Every Run is a Great Run!

Kim and I ran our Harry's Hill workout this morning then I did 4 more miles solo afterward.  Beautiful morning with great views of the mountains and valley from the top of the hill. My calves were a little tight so I decided to back off the intensity a bit on the hills and ran alongside Kim. Felt pretty peppy on the 4 mile run home (mostly flat) and kept the pace in the MP range (7-7:30)

Overall AP 8:26

Nice recovery run with Kim on an absolutely perfect running morning.  Clear, sunny skies, no wind, temps around 50.  Perfect! Apparently other folks had the same idea as we saw a lot of walkers and runners on the river trail. Now off to SG for some R&R. Looking forward to seeing Little Mermaid at the Tuacahn tonight.

Nice easy 4-miler with Kim in St. George. Near perfect weather once again. But our gang down here is a bit bummed out that Tuacahn had to cancel the Little Mermaid debug last night that we had tickets to. Rats!

Loving these mornings lately. The long run today in St George makes it 3 straight days of perfect running weather. Kim and I ran up towards Snow Canyon mostly on the trail then ran back down.  Absolutely beautiful surroundings looking toward Snow Canyon and also enjoyed the desert landscaping around the Entrada resort area.

I briefly tinkered with an MP mile the last 1/2 of the run but my body didn't seem to want to do that so I only did 1 mile. I'm thinking since I already ran some faster stuff on Mon/Wed my legs didn't want anymore of that. So I just tried to keep up with Kimi who was really feeling some zip the last few miles.  I think she'll do very well at UV 1/2 marathon next week.

8:43/147 

Beautiful morning. Did a modified version of the Harry's Hill workout. Kim has a hilly race on Saturday so she slept in a little longer and did a flat-ish run so I was solo today.  Instead of running up and back down the same way, I did the loop version of the workout, running up Harry's but then continue down the other less steep but longer side then loop around and do it over again.  Finished with 1 more time up the hill  and back down non-loop style since I was out of time. Felt pretty good and the view from the top was awesome as usual. But I really do stink at running uphill, the downhill is much funner! :)

8:06/163

Nice 7 mile recovery run with Kim on a lovely morning. Later to the gym for 30 min XT and some core.

8:45/140

Went down to the track to do some Yassos. Perfect temps around 50 and not much wind. Wanted to try and get 6 reps in the 3:10-3:20 range and was hoping it would feel better than when I did 5 reps a couple weeks ago in the pouring rain. The first 3 felt a little harder than I wanted but then for whatever the last 3 felt pretty good.  Pushed it a little on #6 to get a 3:05. Overall I feel pretty good about this workout.

In between reps I walked for 30-45s then slow jog for total rest time same as the interval time (3:10-3:15).   Splits for the 6 were 3:09, 3:11, 3:12, 3:09, 3:10, 3:05. Ave/Max HR 163/193

Overall for 10 miles: 7:52/163

Nice recovery 5 mile run out to the river trail and back. Day off for Kim as she is resting up for her Saturday race so I was solo. Gotta say the weather the entire last week has been about as good as it could ever get for a morning run.

8:29/145

Nice little Friday 3 miler. Did a few strides the last mile and a half. Canyon winds were a bit feisty this morning. Looking forward to 18-miler tomorrow and watching Kim smoke her half marathon.

8:18/151

Did something a little different today.  Wanted to get an 18 miler in but also wanted to see Kimi come in on her 1/2 marathon (congrats to her! - 1:45 and 5th in AD and that included a potty break and stopping to help a guy who collapsed!).

Anyway to pull this off considering the 6am race start time I decided to get up bright and early with Kim (3:40ish!!) and run from my house over to Provo to the finish line area. To get to 18 miles had to be creative and add in some extra loops but worked out well since I've run in this area a zillion times at work.

Kind of dark, eerie, but peaceful running on the back roads so early like that.  But I got into a good groove and ended up having a great run.  The last gel I took at 15 was caffeinated and got my hyped up enough that I finished the run with some MP miles of 7:35, 7:30, and 7:20 pace. I'm thinking after a rest week next week finishing with WBR I'll be ready to start some 20-milers. Fun stuff!

Fun to watch Kim and the other runners come in. Usually I know a lot of people running the race but today seemed like I hardly knew anyone. Fun to watch the marathon winners come in and see Paul P just seconds behind the winning Kenyan  and a minute or 2 under 2:20. I didn't see the 1/2 winner come in but looks like there were some smokin' fast times there as well.

8:09/159 

Down in St. George again. Did a few hill repeats and a little bit on the bunny trail. Then Kim and I and Jansen worked our tails off all day to get condo #2 ready for vacation rentals.  We are finally just about there. 

Six nice and easy on the bunny trail in SG.  Not much gas in the tank today guess I'm not used to heat and/or manual labor. But weather and surroundings were beautiful so still a great run.

Easy 7.25 mile recovery run. Later did 30 min XT at the gym.

8:31/149

Just an easy 3 with some strides to save energy for WBR tomorrow and Sat.  Later went to the gym for 30 min XT plus some core.

Wasatch Back Relay leg 1.  Too tired to write anything up tonight.  For now I'll just say I had a great time, loved the cooler temps, loved the beautiful surroundings.  Don't think I ever remember seeing Utah this green.

Ok feeling a lot better now after a good nights sleep. I had legs 10, 22, and 34 (ragnar) this year. Kim and I were on a Spanish Fork Running Club mix masters team this year.  I had been wanting to do one of these with Kim and glad everything worked out so we could.  Our team was called "Run like Hal" in honor of our fearless team captain and running machine Hal Amos. Everyone on the team did great, it will be interesting to see where we end up placing in our division.

So leg 10 was a nice, mostly flat almost 4 miler (3.95?) near Huntsville and ending at the base of Trappers Loop road. Ran this just after noon and I was super happy with the mild temps in the 60's since I remember other years being in the 80's.  

Our team this year was mostly for fun and only mildly competitive so I didn't plan on killing myself on any of these runs.  Only goal for this run was to run smart and keep my ave pace under 7 min. Took the baton from the one-and-only Hal Amos and I was off.  

Almost blew my goal of running smart the first 1/2 mile as I got caught up in the excitement and was running around 6-6:15 pace. Oops! Finally settled down and ended up at 6:56 for mile 1.  The just-under-7 pace felt good so I stayed in that area the rest of the way.  Had some headwind for much of the run so that made it a little tougher at times. Ran mile 2 in 6:53, mile 3 in 6:59 and last .95 in 6:33 (6:57 pace) to finish with an overall pace of 6:57 and time of 27:22.  Handed off the baton to Kimi for her much harder run up Trappers loop rd.

Felt great afterward and could tell I left plenty in the gas tank.   Mission accomplished. Met all my goals. And had fun! After not really racing for nearly a year and a half it was fun to get a taste of a race and pick up around 10 road kills during the run.

One other tidbit..... Turns out Hal ran his leg 9 in exactly the same pace (6:57) so I think I did my part in living up to our team name! 

Ok so leg 2 ended up being a kind of freaky run. And I notice I have this on Saturday but I think I actually ran this late Friday around 11pm or so.

This was one of the legs that had been changed to run on the rail trail.  I thought only part of the run was on the trail but the entire thing ended up being one straight, flat, monotonous jaunt in the pitch black as the fulll moon had not yet risen.

I was feeling great after leg 1 and itching to get going again. My goal was to run in the MP range (7:10-7:30 pace) which ended up being tough to do with having to run on dirt trail the whole way which probably cost 10-20s per mile.

Took the baton from Hal in Coalville ran down the hill then turned right onto the rail trail. Felt super at first and had a good runner's high going for a little while but then started getting freaked out a little bit by a few things.

As I mentioned it was pitch black with no moon and only my headlamp and occasionally the head lamps of other runners to light the way. I don't like running with headlamps much and something about staring at the headlamp light ahead of me and also being blinded by the headlamps of cars on the adjacent freeway made it feel like I was running blind and was also claustrophobic.  I don't usually have claustrophobia problems but in this case I was getting weirded out a bit and was running a little spooked the last half of the leg.

Had a hard time finding my footing and in some spots there were bumps, rocks and grassy/weedy areas that you couldn't really see until it was too late to do anything about it. Also near the middle there was a nice little river running right through the middle of the trail. Luckily a couple other runners got there just before me and gave me warning so I didn't go slopping right through it and likely doing a face plant.

The last couple miles I was just wanting really bad to be done with the trail.  My running felt great and I mostly cruised along at 7:30 pace and passed 8-10 runners, I think pretty much the same runners I had passed on the first leg.

But the claustrophobia was getting to me and to make matters worse, I had sweat running down into my eyes causing my vision to get all blurry and I really could not see worth a darn. I had all these thoughts of me running straight off the side of the trail down into a river or pit and never being heard of again. I just tried to focus on the lights and reflective vests of the runners ahead of me and let them help lead me along. 

Finally got to the finish line after some of the most eerie, spooky 7.5 miles I've ever run.  I was glad to see the full moon had come out so Kim didn't have to run in pitch black. I was also very happy to see that Kim didn't have to continue on the creepy rail trail. When I handed off the baton I said something to her along the lines of "if you start getting freaked out just walk for a little while" but turns out she did fine and I was the only one in the van getting freaked out on leg 2.

7.5 miles @ 7:30 pace.

LEG 3 - The infamous "Ragnar" leg up the mountain to Gaurdsmens Pass.

I had a little payback in mind for this leg.  I ran this leg once before 4 or 5 years ago and ended up feeling like I had been totally defeated (annihilated?) by the mountain.  That time I ran the first 1/2 mile way too fast and ended up walking before even reaching mile 1.  Ended up with my tail between my legs most the rest of the way doing lots of walking and feeling very humbled and defeated.

I'm not a very good uphill runner and much prefer the down.  During races I always seemed to get passed on the uphill by everyone I just passed on the downhill. So I knew I had to be smart to avoid a repeat of the first time up ragnar. While the entire leg is ruthless steep uphill at altitude, the worst of the steep is during the first 2 miles so I knew I needed to hold back at first.

Fortunately I stuck to the plan and ran the first mile conservative, trying to remember captain Hal's advice to "keep my head down and just keep plugging away and DON'T WALK!".  I had 3 or 4 runners maybe .2 or .3 miles ahead of me and it was hard that first mile to resist the urge to speed up as I knew these were the same runners I had been passing on the other legs so it was frustrating to not be gaining on them during the first mile.

Finished mile 1 in a snailish time of 12:33.   Even slower than I had planned but the good news is that I wasn't totally dead like first time I ran this. Actually started feeling pretty good and like I was getting into a little bit of uphill rhythm. And while this leg is almost entirely straight up, occasionally you get a tiny breather of downhill that I found really gave me a boost.

With my optimism of surviving mile 1 I set my sights on the 3 runners I could see ahead. They were still a ways off but I noticed the first signs of them cracking from having run the first mile too fast and 1 or 2 of them were walking on the steepest uphill sections. Ended passing all 3 of them by the end of mile 2 and running it in 11:17.

Was still feeling pretty good despite some pretty heavy huffing-and-puffing. Bad news was that I didn't see any other runners ahead to focus on the entire rest of the way.  So had to play a few little mental games and enjoy the scenery.

The last 2 miles are a little easier than the first 2 with a few more little flat and downhill breathers that feel heavenly even though they are shortlived. The other cool thing during the last mile or so (cool as in temps AND cool as in "groovy") was running through the "snow tunnel".  With the crazy wet year we've had the snow was piled high on either side, sometimes up to 8-10 feet.   Also for some reason with the way the snow melts if made it so you get all these cool statue-like snow "hoodoos".

With all this cool stuff all around I actually got a little bit of runner's high the last couple miles and was able to run them at 10-10:30 pace and finish up with ave pace of just over 11.

Dare I say this leg was the funnest leg of all? YES I believe it was even though I was dead at the end, thoroughly exhausted yet euphoric at the same time.  Best part was Kim giving me a big wet kiss as I handed her the baton before she headed up to the top of mountain to run down the other side. 

Yes this was a very fun year. Had a great time with my teammates and experiencing this with my eternal teammate Kimi! 

Nice easy 10-miler to start the week.  My legs have never felt as good during and after WBR as they have this year.  But wanted to play it safe today and keep the pace relaxed.

8:30/149

Easy 7 miles in the morning then later did 30 min XT and core at the gym.

8:28/149

Ran some hill repeats but as a reward for having run up ragnar Saturday without walking I did the uphills really wimpy/easy.  I can tell I still have lingering fatigue from WBR as the last 2 cooldown miles were like a death march.  Glad that Kim was able to get out today and get some mostly pain free miles. That last downhill leg she had off the cliff into Deer Valley pounded the snot out of her legs! Hopefully with a couple extra rest days she'll be good as new shortly.

8:38/159

Nice and easy 5 today mostly with Kim who is still recovering from her WBR leg thrashing. Hopefully a few more easy days and maybe some extra rest days will do the trick. 

Later went to the gym for 30 min XT plus core.

9:31/134

Just 3 miles with a half dozen strides.  Want to save my energy for possible first 20-miler of the year tomorrow. Thought of going to the gym for some XT but really just didn't want to in my Friday state of mind so I didn't.

Nice to get the first 20-miler of the year in the books!  Ran 7 or so with Kim then joined up with the SFRC  boys and got 9 or 10 more with them before finishing up with 2 or 3 more solo.  Felt pretty good I think my legs are ready for a bunch more 20+ mile runs between now and SGM. Not worrying about pace this early in the cycle, plenty of time for that later in the summer and early fall. 

8:33/153

Now that at I'm a friend of the hills and whatnot after groovin up my ragnar leg at WBR I couldn't resist another nice early AM run with Mr Harry Hill.  Didn't want to push it too much on a Monday so kept things pretty nice & easy most of the run.  

8:33/151

Ran out-and-back 7 mile route from our house to Canyon View Park via the river trail. Kim's back was acting up last night so she sent me on my way while she tried to coax her back to loosen up then I met back up with her for the last part of the run.  Beautiful summer morning and a nice run.

8:41/139

Later did 30 min XT + core at the gym.

Since I'm running a 5K a week from Saturday I thought I'd go the track and do some quarters. Wanted to run 8-10 and try to keep them under 1:30.  Stepped outside and immediately noticed it was hotter than usual for 5:30am. Also a bit muggy and breezy. Sign at the bank said 72 degrees. Ugh! I'm not a great warm weather runner and I especially don't love doing speedwork in the heat. But hey, gotta at least give it a shot.

Warmed up 3 miles then did some strides. Then the fun begins.  First 2 reps did not feel very good. Already having thoughts of bagging the workout or only doing 4 reps. Finally decide to not think about 8-10 but just do 1 at a time and see what happens.  This worked out pretty well and while I never got in a real good groove I was able to complete 8 reps and keep all but the 2nd under 1:30.

Just to add to the fun on my last 2 reps I had to deal with a herd of buffalo aka cheerleaders doing their 1/2 mile "workout" and hogging up the entire track in the process.  My fastest rep was #7 at 1:24 when I must have got angry trying to weave thru the jogger girls and ended up picking up the pace. Finished up with 3 mile cooldown and glad to be done.

Overall: 8:08/159 max HR 194

Splits: (Time/aveHR/rest-time)  1:28/161/2:19, 1:30/173/2:20, 1:27/174/2:21, 1:29/175/2:22, 1:28/180/2:25, 1:26/182/2:32, 1:24/183/2:39, 1:27/185

Six miles with Kim at don't-care-pace on the bunny trail down in St George. Nice morning and sunrise and not too overly hot.