Ran 3 miles solo then met up with Kim for about 5 more. Felt like I slept pretty good last night but Kim says I was fidgety. My ankles were both pretty tight and sore starting out this morning but they loosened up and felt pretty good after about a mile and a half. Hopefully I took it easy enough today and yesterday so tomorrow I'll be up for the 20-miler with a progression run in the middle. If I'm still feeling it from the Thursday downhill I'll bag the progression run idea and play it safe. 

Ave pace 9:43

RHR 48 

Kim and I met up with the SF group at 5am. It seemed awfully warm already so I was worried the heat might spoil the run but once we got down into the river bottoms it felt cooler and the canyon breeze actually felt quite refreshing much of the time.

Ave pace 7:47 

Started out with the big group then at the base of heartbreak Tyler, Dan, Hal and I took a left turn to head up around the golf course. Hal was still hurting from the Payson downhill Wednesday run so after 3 miles Hal and Dan held back and from then on it was just Tyler and me. I was a little nervous about pushing the pace since I was also feeling a little bit of tightness/soreness in the ankles and calves from the Payson run but after a few miles I was feeling pretty good and was able to keep with Tyler. I don't think Tyler ever got tired much the whole run so I'm wondering if perhaps he could run a 2:40-2:45 type marathon at SGM.

After we climbed up Harry's around mile 9 we started speeding up each mile for the next 8 miles, finishing up with a mile at the fast end of the 1/2 marathon pace range. I was tired by the end but thought it felt easier than 2 weeks ago when I ran a similar workout alone. I think having a running partner to help push the last few miles helped quite a bit.

Splits for the progression miles as follows. Some of these don't look very progressive just because there is some downhill early. Effort-wise they got a little harder each mile.

mile 10 -  7:13 (downhill)

mile 11 - 6:55 (downhill)

mile 12 - 7:35 (stop for drink and gu at beginning of this mile)

mile 13 - 7:05

mile 14  - 7:08

mile 15 - 7:01 (stop for drink and gu at end of this mile)

mile 16 - 6:40

mile 17 - 6:20

Finished up with some easy miles back to my house. Started noticing the heat the last couple of miles. I feel good about the run and this week in general. Looking forward to a reduced mileage week next week finishing with Provo River 1/2 marathon next Saturday.

AM: Had a nice run with Kim this morning which was good because I didn't sleep so great last night. Between napping too long yesterday and it being a bit warmer than usual last night due to our AC not working so good, the sleep was a little rough. So I was glad with our schedule this week it was Kim's turn for a Monday tempo run rather than me. However Kim is getting so fast lately it gives me a pretty decent workout to start out the week. After warmup we ran a 5.5 mile tempo run with goal being to stay around Kim's 1/2 marathon pace (8:30 ?). But as usual Kim kept speeding up every mile ending up under 8-min pace and averaging 8:12. Good job Kim!

As this is a reduced mileage week for me, I'll be doing a shorter than usual tempo run tomorrow. 3.5 miles at 10K pace (6:00-6:20). Looking at 55-60 miles for the week. I'll be front-loading the miles this week so I can do a mini-taper prior to the Provo River 1/2 marathon on Saturday. With the new course this year I'm not sure what is a reasonable time to shoot for. I'd like to be under 1:24 if possible and get a PR but we'll just have to see what happens and what the heavens have in store for that day. I'll be happy if I feel like I've run smart and given a good effort.

Late AM: 10 minutes on bike and core workout.

RHR 48

AM: Did a warmup run with Kim just over 3 miles before attempting my planned 3.5 mile tempo run at 10K pace (6:00-6:20). After the warmup Kim went on her way and I did some strides to try and wake my legs up and coax them to do some faster running. As usual the legs were rebelling a bit and wanted to do a few more miles warmup first, but I didn't have time for an 8 mile warmup so after a bit of mild stretching it was off to the races.

Since I have so much trouble doing fast workouts in the early morning I tried to make things easier by running on a slightly downhill route with a tailwind on the 1st mile. This was a good-news/bad-news run. The good news: I averaged 6:08. The bad news: I got the familiar nausea, upset stomach, need-to-find-a-bush-quick feeling hitting me during mile 3 so I had to cut the run short and only do 3 miles instead of the planned 3.5 :( I've taken Tums a few times before harder runs and it seems to help with the stomach issues but today I forgot to do that. But I do feel better after reading Terry's blog and seeing that I averaged a quicker pace on my 3 miles that he did on his run :) However I imagine Terry wasn't running with a tailwind and slight downhill.

Splits were 6:06, 6:10, 6:10.

Someday I'll wise up and learn to run the 1st mile of a tempo a little easy instead of always making it the fastest mile of them all. However I did have most of the tailwind on this mile so the effort was probably pretty even for all 3.

PM (late AM start actually): Ran the Lakeview out-and-back 5.1 mile route solo. Ran "naked" today - i.e no garmin or watch of any kind - so I don't know or care about the pace. It was muggy but also cloudy so the temps didn't feel too bad.

AM: I had planned on being the designated driver and haul everyone up Payson Canyon so they could do the 11 mile downhill run while I drove back down to Pateetneet to run an easy 8 miler on flat roads. I didn't want to run the downhill since I'll be doing a downhill 1/2 marathon on Saturday. However our plans changed as we met a policeman on the way up who informed us the canyon was closed due to the fire situation. So Kim and I joined the others in an impromptu "surprise" run that took us up hills into Elkridge and then back down. Ended up being a pretty good run but it took a while to mentally adjust to doing something other than what we were expecting. Legs were a little dead from the tempo run yesterday but feeling pretty good now. Not sure on average pace, probably around 9 min/mi.

PM: Ran 3 miles nice and relaxed at work with Paul. Ran without the garmin again but I think Paul said we ended up around 8:45 pace.. Now we go into mini-taper mode: 7-8 easy miles tomorrow with some fast striders thrown in, 2 miles on Friday. Hopefully the legs will feel good and rested on Saturday for the race.

RHR 49

AM: Ran 6 mile river bottoms loop with Kim. Kay also joined us for some of the miles. Legs feeling like lead today, I'll have to try sitting in the ice bath tonight and see if that helps. Did a few strides toward the end of the run that helped loosen things up a little. With the Bridal Veil fire situation I'm not sure what to expect as far as Saturday 1/2 marathon course.

Ave pace around 9:30 if I remember correctly.

Late AM: 11 minutes on bike and wimpy version of the core workout.

On a side note....we had a great time last night entertaining some guests and friends from Japan that have recently had our son who is serving there over to their home for dinner.  What kind and gracious people! They invited our family to stay with them if we make it to Japan. Hope we can take them up on the offer.

RHR 49

Just a couple of easy miles with Kim to shake the cobwebs out of the legs and take an ache-and-pain inventory. Kim was doing her long run today and had already gone 8 or 9 with Kay but still seemed to have plenty of zip. She was still running by the time I got breakfast and shower out of the way and left for work so who knows she may have "accidentally" gone 10 extra miles and got a 20-miler in. She may still be running as I type for all I know. Hope I can borrow some of her energy for tomorrow.

My legs were feeling quite a bit better than yesterday but not quite like I would like them to feel for a 1/2 marathon. But by tomorrow with another day of mostly rest today perhaps they'll be full of zip. Regardless I'm excited for the race!

Good luck to everyone racing tomorrow! 

RHR 48

Not the greatest day for me today, but I guess they can't all be great. Was hoping to run in the low 1:20's but it just wasn't that kind of day. We'll just call this one a nice little 1/2 marathon and marathon pace tempo run.

Terry (oldbean) was kind enough to try and pace me for most of the race, but for whatever reason -- perhaps going out a little fast? -- I just didn't have it today and felt pretty much spent at the halfway point and just had to struggle through the last 6 miles. I kept trying to cut Terry loose because I knew I was slowing him down after mile 7 but he was kind enough to try and motivate me (mostly unsuccessfully) through about 9 1/2 miles.

It was nice to have Kim there as a spectator and give me some encouragement the last couple of miles when I was half dead. Thanks babe! It did help even though I may not have shown it at the time.

Also my garmin was kind of whacked out from the beginning and had trouble throughout, measuring the race at 13.5 miles, but most folks I talked to measured it around 13.25. So the course was a bit long so I suppose my true 1/2 marathon time is maybe 30 seconds to 1 minute better. For whatever reason the official results have everyone times adjusted down about 45 seconds faster, so they have me at 1:26:10 or somewhere around there.

Fast field today, even if I would have run in my goal range I don't think I would have been able to crack the top 3 AD what with guys like Ron Greenwood, Carl Hanson and a few other recently turned 40 speedsters running today.

Also I can't believe I let the same guy from Payson who beat me by 3 seconds at Speedy Spaniard, beat me by 4 seconds today!!! When he passed me just before mile 13 I tried to kick it for a while but I was just dead and I couldn't hold the pace as he sped up as well. I'm hoping he runs SF 1/2 marathon as I now make a vow to NOT let him beat me anymore!!!

Here are the splits but some of them are whacked out because mr. garmin wasn't behaving. Most the mess up I think was on miles 1, 8 and 10 so I've tried to make a guess (in parens) as to what the real pace was.

5:33 (5:45 ?), 6:01, 6:18, 6:05, 6:34, 6:47, 6:09, 6:22 (6:30?), 6:40, 6:26 (6:40?), 6:40, 6:50, 7:08 (ugh - I hate seeing a 7), 3:20 (2:30 ?).

Interestingly enough, even though I felt like I had a pretty bad race, I noticed when comparing my time to the times of all the guys that also ran Speedy Spaniard 10K a couple of weeks ago that we all came in in the exact finishing order in both races. So maybe everyone had a bad race or the course was just slower than expected. But I can't figure out how Pat Loss came in behind me. I'm sure I didn't pass him and I thought he was a minute or 2 ahead of me but his time shows as a minute behind me. VPB perhaps? I felt bad during the first mile or 2 I was riding too close on Pat's heels and almost tripped him 2 or 3 times. Sorry Pat!

The FRB ruled today, I think the top 7 or 8 finishers were all bloggers. Good job everyone! I should have maybe left the blog singlet at home today, hopefully I didn't shame the blog too bad with the 40th place finish.

Time to put this one behind me and look forward to SF 1/2 marathon in 4 weeks and of course the biggie.... SGM in 8 weeks.

AM: Recovery run for me today after the kinda ugly race Saturday. Yesterday my legs were pretty sore, similar to after running down Payson Canyon a couple of weeks ago. I did the ice bath thing both Saturday and last night and it helped quite a bit. Still a little stiff in the ankle/calves starting out today but after getting warmed up I felt pretty good. After a 1 1/2 mile warmup I paced Kim to a 6-mile tempo run @ 1/2 marathon pace which is around 8:30. We did an out-an-back run, basically covering miles 2-4 of the SF 1/2 marathon course. Started out nice and easy on the uphill 3 miles into the wind but were cruising along pretty nice right around 8-min mile pace by the last mile.

Ave tempo pace 8:24.

Wanted to mention a weird thing that happened either right before or during the race Saturday. I got some kind of spider bite or bee string in the middle of my arm. By the end of the Saturday it was kind of sore and itchy and turning red. Then yesterday we noticed a red line running from the bite area up my arm to my shoulder and armpit. I've always heard red lines aren't so good and are an indication of infection, blood poisoning, etc. We debated whether to go to the ER (since it was Sunday), but our great family doctor and fellow runner Roman Takasaki was kind enough to talk to me at home and call in a prescription for an antibiotic. Hopefully it won't end up being anything that causes grief or gets me sick. Dang nasty bug bites!

PM: Ran the Lakeview 5-mile out-and-back route with Paul and Bill R. Thankfully everyone was in recovery mode so we kept the pace nice and easy. We had a great run with some great chat, mostly about the Olympics including that awesome 4-man relay last moment victory by the US over France yesterday. I had missed seeing it last night but this morning I found the replay on msnbc.com and thoroughly enjoyed watching the amazing finish. Got me all pumped up for the next race.

Ave pace 8:48.

RHR 46 

Very early AM: Kim and I got a little wild and crazy and decided to break our nights sleep into 2 sessions by sneaking in a 3AM run in the middle of our slumber so we could check out the meteor shower during ideal viewing hours. We found out you pretty much have the world to yourself at 3 or 4am, no cars, no people, no noise other than the wind and the chorus of crickets down in the river bottoms. Reminded me a little bit of some of those mid-night legs of WBR, only better.

We ran down to the bottoms, past the row of trees, past gu corner and up powerhouse toward the golf course and back. Along the way we stopped at a few places furthest away from any street lights so we could gaze up at the sky to catch the falling stars. It is possible to also gaze at the sky while running but we found this can be hazardous to your health, especially on pot-holed roads.

Perhaps one of the crazier things we did that would not work during normal hours was along the tree-line road -- we just laid down right on the asphalt in the middle of the road so we could gaze up at the stars without having to strain our necks. Kind of felt like being a kid for a moment, then we got creeped out hearing strange rustlings and noises from the corn field so we went on our way.

We did see quite a bunch of meteors, perhaps not as many as other years when we've watched in the back yard, but this time was much more memorable with the running element, being alone with Kim, and being outside of town away from the lights in the pitch black with the crickets and shooting stars. Thanks to Kim for suggesting we do this. I think you win the prize for best-suggestion-for-a-run as my last suggestion was to run all the way to the top of Loafer.

After we got home it was only 4:30 so we jumped back into bed for a few more glorious hours of sleep.

Ave pace: DON'T CARE!

Late AM: 11 minutes on the stationary bike and 10 minutes on the eliptical worth 2 miles of crosstrain miles. I think I'll use the eliptical more for crosstraining as I noticed I can get my HR up to 140 without much trouble but with the bike I struggle to get over 120. Also did core workout. Legs are feeling pretty good today I think I'm pretty much recovered from the race. Of course the lingering abdominal, groin, and high-hamstring-butt-itis are always lurking in the corner, but all-in-all I'm feeling good and looking forward to a tempo run down Payson canyon tomorrow.

RHR 49

Kim and I ran down Payson Canyon this morning along with a bunch of other guys and gals. Our son Tyler was kind enough to get up early and be our van chauffeur. Tyler S and I ended up leading the pack today as we didn't see anyone after the first 1/2 mile or so. Kim ran with Beth E most of the way which worked out pretty well for her. I was surprised how close behind those 2 were when I doubled back to meet back up with Kim (that's where the extra 1.2 miles came from to end up at 12.3 for the day). They were well ahead of the rest of the pack. Kim didn't have a Garmin but Beth did so it will be interesting to see what their pace was.

After easing into the first mile running it around 7:15 we did the last 10 miles as a downhill marathon pace tempo run. I wanted to keep most the miles in the 6-6:30 range and we were pretty much successful  at doing that. My stupid flakey-as-of-late garmin kept glitching all the way down so my splits are kind of whacked. I feel good about this run. I was tired at the end but not totally spent. Although our splits were slower the last few miles I think we put more effort into them as that section is much less steep and has some rolling hills and flat.

Total time for 11.1 mile dowhill: 1:11:49. Ave pace 6:27

Splits (guessing on some of them where the garmin messed up):

7:13, 6:19, 6:05, 6:13, 6:18, 6:20, 6:28, 6:37, 6:28, 6:29, 6:38.

AM: Ran 6 mile river bottoms loop with Kim. I was surprised how good my legs felt after the steep downhill tempo run yesterday. Looks like maybe I'm finally at the point where I can really push the downhill and not be hammered the next day or 2 (or 3). Looking forward to Hobble Creek and perhaps some redemption for Provo River.

Ave pace 9:35.

Late AM: Ran 6 mile Lakeview loop. Pretty much uneventful except for when I almost got hit by a garbage truck. No garmin so don't know average pace. Probably around 8:30.

RHR 45

AM: Ran just over 4 with Kim then added on a little extra to get to 6. Legs felt very heavy today. Seems like days like today when the alarm wakes me up vs. when I wake up "naturally" before the alarm, then the morning running is much more difficult. Hopefully with today being a very easy pace run we'll feel good and ready for the long run tomorrow.

Ave pace: around 10

Late AM: 11 minutes on bike, 10 minutes on elliptical, core workout.

Ran with Kim out to the Stake Center at 5 to meet up with the SF runners. Hung out an chatted a bit but then let Kim and the main group take off while I finished a mile warmup and waited to meet Darin at 5:15 for a 20-mile run in the 7-8 min/mi pace range. It ended up being a pretty good run and it was nice to run with Darin who is running pretty strong right now. Steve, Carl and Pat usually would have been their but Steve and Carl are out of town and Pat is injured. I kept up with Darin most of the way but had to let him go the last couple of miles. I was just not feeling it today the last few miles. I think I still have some lingering fatigue from the race last week and the tempo run down Payson Canyon on Wednesday. Hopefully by next week I'll be feeling better.

Ave pace for the 20 miles: 7:40.

Day off work today with lots to do so got the whole run in this morning. Went 7 miles solo (ave pace 8:55) then joined Kim for 5. Legs not particularly sore but they still felt a bit weary and Monday-ish. 

Ave pace 9:32. 

AM: Dang, forgot to make use of the Save as Draft button and lost my first write up after some fat-fingering so now I'll do the quick version. Plan today was for 2x3.75 miles at HMP to MP with .5 mile rest in the middle. I've learned I just can't hit the kind of paces in the early AM hours that I used to hit back in the winter/early-spring when I used to run before lunch. So main goal today was just to finish the workout without quiting, allow myself a wide pace range (6:20-7:00) and get good and tired by the end. I was successful in meeting these goals so I consider the workout a success. Sure I'd love to be 15-45 seconds faster per mile but it wasn't that kind of day today. It felt hard enough so I would think I should still reap the desired benefits. Started at the 3 mile point of the SF 1/2 marathon route and followed the 1/2 marathon course. This is the hilly section of the race route so my splits are all over the place.

Splits for first 3.75 miles: 6:45 (hill in the middle), 6:29 (slightly downhill), 6:55 (uphill at the end), ??? (not sure on time, pace was 7:11, mostly all uphill).

Ave pace: 6:49

Splits for 2nd 3.75 miles: 6:23 (downhill), 6:38 (mostly flat), 7:00 (slightly uphill, got lazy on this one), 6:27 (downhill & flat).

Ave pace: 6:38

Late AM: 11 minutes on bike and core workout.

RHR 49

AM: After a couple mile warmup I helped pace Kim on a 4 mile tempo run to serve as a tune up for Hobble Creek. I say "helped pace" her but she really doesn't need my help much anymore, I spend most of the time just trying to keep her from getting too far out in front of me so that I can record accurate splits on the watch. Coach Tom decided not to have any particular pace goal today but to just let Kim run whatever felt good. We ended up averaging 7:55 for the 4 miles which I thought was pretty dang good considering that it was a net uphill run with all but the last mile being on the uphill side and into the wind. At least we were fortunate today the wind wasn't too bad.

Mile splits were 8:05, 8:07, 7:56, 7:28.

Ave pace for the entire 7.25 miles probably around 8:55. I'm thinking the purple haired duo of Kim and Jody will run Hobble in the 1:40 to 1:45 range but with a real good chance of running under 1:40.

PM:  Just over 4 more miles at solo at work. Ave pace 8:50.

RHR 46

AM: Ran 5.1 mile river bottoms loop with Kim. We also ran into Sarah C right after we started and she was able to join us for the rest of the run. Feeling pretty good today except I tripped on a stupid wire or something coming up Heartbreak and it was all I could do to keep from landing on my face. Even so I landed awkwardly and very ungracefully, and I just hope I haven't aggravated my left hamstring which is prone to giving me grief at the slightest provocation.

Ave pace around 9:20.

Late AM: Decided to give my legs a bit of a break and do some crosstraining instead of running. Did 22 minutes on the bike and 20 minutes on the elliptical. My legs actually felt really good afterward and I was able to have a really good stretch so I think I did the right thing.

RHR 47 

Ran just over 3 miles solo this morning then couple more with Kim. This will be all the running for today since Hobble 1/2 is tomorrow. I seem to have survived the wire-tripping incident yesterday without any serious setbacks. Thanks to Kim for working my hamstring over a bit last night. I also sat in the ice-tub for 15 minutes. My legs still don't feel quite like I'd like them to feel the day before a race, but then again at this point in the peak phase of marathon training cycle and with no taper this week I wasn't expecting much better.

Per Ian's suggestion the #1 goal of the race tomorrow is to have FUN!. In other words I hope to have a GOOD TIME! :) Best of luck to everyone racing tomorrow!

Ave pace 9:20. 

Well I stayed true to my goal of running the 1st half of the race conservative, then the plan was to push the last half if I was feeling juiced. Turns out I didn't have a lot of juice today, but for a non-tapered race, and if I look at this as just a marathon training workout and not a race, then I had a pretty decent day and had great training run for SGM. Not exactly sure on official time or placing so I'll update that later if necessary.

This is also a big PR for this race (haven't run it for 2 years however) and close to PR for 1/2 marathon, although this course is much faster than any of the other 1/2 marathons I've done this year so I still consider Painter's and Strider's to be my best overall performances. I think I like cold weather races, these races that end with the sun beating down and getting into the 70's aren't my favorite. But I guess SGM will probably be that way so I need the training. Also I sure wish I could get over all the lingering aches/pains that have plagued me all summer (mainly lower abs and groin). I'm really hoping with a good taper for SGM I'll be more race ready come race day.

Kim and I got on the 1st bus up and had a good chat with the racers we were sitting by. I was a little suprised the guy I was sitting by knew who we were and knew our names. Turns out the guy was Jason Riding from SF who confessed that he and his wife are both FRB lurkers so that's how they knew us. He had also run Heart of Holladay and we had seen each other there. SO RIDING'S IF YOU ARE READING THIS THEN GET ON THE BLOG ALREADY!!

I started the race with Paul and Nate. We were pretty good at keeping the pace we had planned (6:15-6:20?) for the first 6 miles but the garmins were all whacked out and some of the mile markers were suspect so I'm not sure. About the 1/2 way point Paul backed off a bit and I went with Nate for a while but he was feeling pretty good and was in more of racing mode than I so he left me in the dust shortly thereafter.

Nate had a killer race and set a PR beating me by over a minute and looking good for sub-3 at SGM despite having had training woes due to lots of travel as of late. Paul also finished strong and had a PR and continued his streak of victories over Josse but I think it was pretty close today. Unfortunately (if I remember correctly, please correct me if I'm wrong Paul!) Paul did not keep up his streak of beating Hal Amos as Hal squeaked by him today. But overall a great effort for those guys.

Also directly in front of me the whole race was Marcie J and Wildbull. I tried to catch the Bull but he just had more than I did today on that last mile. Marcie would have beat me too if not for the VPB around mile 9. She did pass me with about 1/2 mile to go but I managed to drum of bit of kick the last quarter and pass her back to keep my chick count under 5(?? I think ??). So I ended up finishing sandwitched between the fine SG running dynamos Bill and Marcie.

Here are my splits, I was on manual lap mode today since I knew the garmin would likely give me trouble down the canyon. Some of these look pretty fishy so I think the mile markers were messed up around miles 7 and 8. Also I forgot to push lap at mile 13 as I was too focused on trying to pass Marcie.

1 - 6:24 (too many slower runners crowding the start line!)

2 - 6:07

3 - 6:21

4 - 6:01

5 - 6:22

6 - 6:22

7 - 6:26

8 - 5:53 (this has to be wrong)

9 - 6:29

10 - 6:40

11 - 6:40

12 - 6:57 (I wimped out but at least it was under 7)

13.1 - 7:21 (6:31 pace)

Good to see and chat with all the bloggers after the race. I won't try to name anyone as I'll probably forget somebody. It was fun to watch the purple hairs Kim and Jody come in. They both had great times, Kim came in just under 1:43 and Jody was a minute or 2 earlier. I wish Kim would have been able to be further up in the pack at the start as I think she lost nearly a minute getting to the start line and dodging around the slower runners. But still a super effort and good for a flower and special Top 100 finisher necklace. Good job everyone!

AM: Ran 5 easy with Kim then added a couple more afterward. My legs feel much, much better than they've felt after any of the 1/2 marathons I've done this year. No real lingering aches and pains to speak of. Hope this is a good sign that the downhill training and high miles are starting to kick in. I think one thing that made a difference with Hobble vs Provo River is that I wore DS Trainers for Hobble vs. Banditos for Provo. The DSTrainers are 2 or 3 oz heavier and easier on the ankles & calves. However neither Kim or I slept very good this weekend so we'll need to be careful and take care of ourselves and try to catch some extra zzz's here and there and hope we don't catch a cold or get injured. Averaged around 10's for the 5 miles then just under 8 for the last 2 miles.

PM: 5.2 miles with Nate and Cory. Ave pace 8:34.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY KIM!!!

AM: Ran the 6 mile river bottoms loop with the Birthday girl then got in 1 bonus mile solo. Nice day today, better sleep last night after rough couple of nights over the weekend. Took it easy today to save energy for a nice double-digit mile tempo run down Payson Canyon tomorrow.

PM: 20 minutes on the elliptical and core workout.

YEEEEEHAAAWWW!!!!!! Sorry for all the exuberance but I guess I'm still under the influence of the endorphines that the running powers-that-be were so kind to inject into my system this morning for the Payson canyon downhill run. It's been a little while since I've had a great run like this so I was pretty "chuffed" (word I learnt from Ian).

We had a good size crew today, I think we packed 14 or 15 folks all in a single Suburban up the canyon. Plan was to run with the group for 2 miles then 4 miles tempo run at downhill 1/2 marathon pace, then rest/jog for 1/2 mile then do 4 more miles at HMP. Tyler S was being the good husband watching the kids so his wife Kellie could experiences the joys of canyon downhill running. Good for him, however it did mean I would be solo for the tempo miles. I tried to focus on good downhill form and just relaxing and let the legs "roll" down the hill without braking. A little scary to run like this as you feel like you're on the verge of being out of control, but also quite euphoric to run fast without feeling so winded. I was very surprised to see my pace in the 5:30-5:45 range for most of these miles while I would have guessed my pace to be closer to 6:00. With all the downhill miles I've put in the last month or so and my legs being hardly sore after Hobble Creek Saturday, I felt OK taking a little risk and pushing the pace. Hope my legs forgive me the next couple of days and I can recover adequately for the 22 miler on Saturday. After I got to the bottom I ran back up a ways to find Kim and Kellie and run back down with them to get to 13 miles for the day.

Here are the splits for the tempo miles:

1 - 5:01 (this is wrong, garmin glitched on this mile, should be in the 5:45-6:00 range I think)

2 - 5:29

3 - 5:46

4 - 5:29

Jog/rest for about .4 miles plus a VPB, about 5 minutes total rest time.

5 - 5:55

6 - 6:18 (this mile is the flattest of the bunch but still net downhill. Started getting nausea and GI problems and thought I might have to cut the run short and have another VPB but luckily the feeling past before the end of the mile.

7 - 6:07

8 - 6:07

Now lest anyone thing I've magically improved my 1/2 marathon pace in the last few days by over 30 seconds a mile I need to remind everyone that Payson Canyon is a dang steep downhill canyon, especially the first two-thirds of the run, then the last 4 miles are more gradual downhill with some rollers.

Just to remind myself and anyone else interested what kind of downhill slope we're talking about I'm posting the elevation info from the Course Tool below. The first 4 miles of my tempo run today correspond with miles 3-6, the last 4 miles covered miles 6.5 thru 10.5.

 No more miles for me today, looking forward to a big nap at lunch time.

AM: Ran the 5.1 mile river bottoms loop with Kim. Easy recovery run today, legs feeling a bit hammered as expected after the downhill battering yesterday. But at least they feel hammered in a good way (is that possible?), not as in the I'm-feeling-some-new-injury-indicating types of pains.

PM: 5 more very slow recovery miles solo.

AM: Had a very nice enjoyable run with Kimi on a beautiful, slightly fall-ish feeling morning. Not much wind today, temps probably in the mid-50's, just about perfect. Ran the 6 mile bottoms loop. Legs are still a bit sore from Wednesday's downhill extravaganza but much better than yesterday, maybe even a touch of yeehaw. Hoping for a good-size dose of YEEHAW for tomorrow's 22-miler. Happy 20+ milers to one and all!

Late AM: 11 minutes on bike, 10 on elliptical, and core workout.

Kim had to get done early today so we went out around 4:30 and I rode the bike while she got a few miles in before joining up with the group. Her foot had a weird pain and also the IT band flared up so she had to cut the run short. Bummer! I hope it doesn't turn out to be a big problem, I think she did the smart thing by not forcing the 20 miler today.

After Kim met up with the main group at 5am I joined up with the speedster group consisting of me, Nate, Tyler, Darin, Steve and Carl. Plan was for 22 miles averaging in the 7:30-8:00 pace range. I could tell early on that my legs were not going to be very happy to go over 20 miles today. Obviously I wasn't recovered from my Wednesday fast run down the canyon. I'm going to wise up from now on and not push hard on the steep downhill but save any tempo work for flat or slightly downhill roads. I couldn't keep up with most of the group after the first 9 miles or so but Nate was kind enough to hang back with me so I wasn't by myself. Even though we kept the pace in what should be my easy range there were times it felt like a death march as my legs were just deader than dead. But interestingly enough the last 3-4 miles of the run we found ourselves hitting 7:20-7:30 pace and breathing easier than we had been earlier in the run. Maybe the GUs kicked in or something.

At any rate I was just glad to get this run done and in the bank. The ice bath is calling me. Then it's COLLEGE FOOTBALL COUCH POTATO DAY!!! For some reason (endorphines?) Kim gave me her blessing and encouragement to sit around all afternoon and watch Utah and BYU begin their football season. What a woman eh? I wonder if it's some kind of setup?

Ave pace 7:55