Every Run is a Great Run!

Very warm day today.  When the car thermometer says it's already 76 degrees at 4:30am it's a bad sign.  Felt great for 21 miles and was on pace for 3:09ish then things went really bad really fast and I went from 6:45 for mile 21 to 8:20-8:50 pace the last 5 miles. 

Considering the warm temps and bit of head wind after mile 8 I feel OK about the race. I just don't seem to do well in heat. I did more daytime training this year than other years and I think it helped but not enough to get me past 21 miles in 1 piece.  Talked to about 30 people and maybe 28 of them had the same type experience crashing and burning sometime in the last 10 miles with just a couple lucky runners managing to have a great race.

Splits info below (goal pace and how many seconds -/+ ahead/behind of goal time)

1 - 7:37 (7:30 +7) stuck in the pack but OK with this mile being slow

2 - 7:28 (7:30 +5) nice to have a bit of tail wind for these early miles

3 - 7:00 (7:00 +5) Starting to feel really good, have to force myself to stay on pace.

4 - 6:51 (7:00 -4)

5 - 7:16 (7:15 -3)

6 - 6:41 (6:45 -7)

7 - 6:50 (6:45 -2)

8 - 8:09 (8:15 -8) Veyo - our nice little tailwind has turned into a mildly annoying headwind that continues most the rest of the race - also starting to warm up

9 - 7:54 (8:00 -14) Still feeling really good through this stretch

10 - 7:55 (7:45 -4) Getting bored with Dammaron Valley, lose my focus a little bit as I'm looking forward to some downhill

11 - 8:04 (8:00 -0)

12 - 7:30 (7:15 +15) Not too worried about the slower pace as I know I'll make up some time on the downhill miles soon to come

13 - 7:06 (7:15 +6)

14 - 7:14 (7:15 +5)

15 - 6:42 (7:00 -13) Downhill fun begins! I love this section of the course

16 - 6:34 (6:45 -24)

17 - 6:53 (7:00 -31)

18 - 7:00 (7:00 -31)

19 - 7:39 (7:30 -22) Since I've banked some time on the downhill I reward myself by slowing down a bit up the hill

20 - 7:20 (7:00 -2) First signs of trouble but still on pace

21 - 6:45 (6:45 -2) Shortly after I finish this mile I majorly crash and burn. I was quite surprised how suddenly and how completely I died just after this mile.

22 - 8:35 (7:00 race has gone to pot now and I'm +a zillion seconds off pace, don't care anymore just figure I'll make sure to qualify for Boston - 3:25.  With hindsight I should have maybe had a more ambitious goal to get me through these last 5 miles like sub 3:15 or something.  When all you have to average is 11 min miles to get the BQ it's not much of a motivator. I do alot of run/walk the rest of the race

23 - 8:28 (6:45)

24 - 8:41 (7:00)

25 - 8:53 (7:00)

26 - 8:30 (7:00)

.2 - 1:54 (1:30)

My quads are pretty hammered but other than that I don't feel too bad.  Looking forward to a rest week or 2 or month then maybe start training for Painters.

No run today or probably for a few days. Quads are still way hammered. Not sure what the deal is it's usually my calves that give me the most trouble after St George.  Since Kim became a pool running machine earlier in the year when she was injured, I may go with her over to her PT's pool a couple days this week and have her show me how it's done. Good to have a little down time once or twice a year and let the old body heal up nice.

Quads are still pretty sore but a lot better than yesterday.  Just before lunch went with Kim over to her PT's office where she showed me the fine points of pool running. I felt pretty awkward at first but got into a better groove after 10 or 15 minutes.  But I don't think I ever got to where I could glide thru the water as speedily and gracefully as Kimi.

Ended up getting 60 minutes in the pool, HR was around 120 mostly. Probably about like a slow 5 mile run.  The time went by quicker than I thought it would, it helped to have Kim and others in the pool to talk to. My legs seem pretty happy about the workout.

Don't think I'll try any running until Thursday at the soonest.

Was wide awake around 5:30 so I went downstairs and walked on the treadmill with the incline maxed out (it doesn't go very high). Walked 3 miles in just under 50 minutes, with the incline my HR stayed mostly in the 125-130 range. Not too bad, similar to the exercise bike.

Later went to the gym for 30 min XT + core.  Legs feeling pretty good today I'll try a short/easy run tomorrow. 

Legs were feeling good so I was itching to try my first post-SGM run.  But the weather didn't look quite so nice - cold, windy, and rainy as I walked over to the gym.  So I had to decide: warm, dry treadmill OR cold, windy and rainy roads.  So I went with the easier choice and headed out into the rain and wind!  I really truly dislike the TM and would rather run outside in almost any conditions except maybe for snowy/icy/slippery roads.

The weather ended up not being so bad and didn't really bother me.  More bothersome was the lingering aches and pains and fatigue from Saturday.  My left quad and right calf are still pretty tender and my legs overall are still pretty fragile.  Kept the pace nice & easy and I'm thinking tomorrow I may see if Kim wants to head back over to the PTs office for some pool running.

8:38/138 (nice seeing that HR down in the 130's for this pace)  

Did 60 min of pool running with Kimi.  Had a hard time getting very motivated to put much effort into it, heart rate never got much over 120.  But I imagine it was still good to get it done, makes the post-marathon legs feel pretty happy. Maybe I'll try 6-8 slow running miles tomorrow.

Kim and I slept in today and went out later in the morning after it was light. A bit drizzly and breezy but not so bad once we got warmed up.  Looks like St George weather is perfect for running today, too bad the marathon wasn't today :(

Legs felt better than Thursday but still have just an overall feeling of fatigue. It was nice to run with Kim and not worry about pace or races or whatever.

9:18/145 (not sure what's up with the high HR, maybe has to do with my eating both mine and Kim's big desert last night not long before bedtime)

Nice 6-miler with Kim just before lunch. Temps pretty dandy for running but a little breezy. Legs are feeling better all the time, maybe 70-80 percent recovered. 

9:06/139

Early morning run. Nice temps around 50 degrees.

8:33/153

Late morning run on an absolutely beautiful fall day.  Ran about 4 with Kim and 3 solo. Starting to feel pretty darn good and mostly recovered from the marathon. Toward to the end of runs I'll maybe start to feel the lingering fatigue start to kick in and HR starts ratcheting up, but for the most part feeling great.  Plan on keeping the pace in the easy range mostly slower than 8 min through the end of October.

8:50/143

Just another dandy easy run on a near perfect fall day. 

8:28/150 

Dandy little 5 miler with Kim in the late morning.  Man it sure would be sweet if the weather could stay like this for a couple months or so.  

8:46/133

First double-digit miles run since SGM. Went out with Kim at 6am to meet up with the SF crew. Not too many showed up today. Mostly ran with Hal and Kim joined in toward the end. Felt pretty good but the 12 miler felt too much like 20.

8:52/144

Early AM: Went out in the dark with Kimi for 6 miles. Not used to the early morning schedule so much anymore, I woke a little brain dead and grumpy and I don't think I was very good company. Sorry Kim!  Got hit by a few drops of rain along the way but temps were actually pretty nice in the 50's but a bit muggy.

9:06/139 

Late AM: 4 more miles at work.  Sun was out now and a pretty nice day although a little windy. At mile 3 I noticed I was right on the 8-min dude's tail so I sped up just enough to catch him before getting to 4.

7:59/150

Went out in the late AM on another spectacular fall Utah day. Nothing too fancy just a nice easy relaxing run.

8:24/144

Ran 8 miles just before lunch. I wanted to do something to get my HR up near it's max just so my body doesn't get too used to all the easy runs. But I didn't want to pound my legs so I figured some uphill repeats would do the trick. Ended up doing 6 repeats, jogging back down the hill in between. Felt pretty good.

8:10/162 max HR 191

Early AM: Ran 6 miles easy on a dark and nippy but nice morning.

8:39/150

Late AM: 3 more easy miles at work.

8:11/148

Nice recovery run in the early morning with Kimi during the first part of her long run. Legs feeling pretty good, I enjoyed the run and relaxed pace.

9:20/140 

Down in St George for a quick trip to attend condo HOA annual meeting. Got up bright and early to get the long run out of the way.  Temps in the 50's which to me is about perfect running weather, it was great to wear a short sleeve shirt in late October. Saw a few runners who didn't see to agree with me that 50's is short sleeve weather, looked like they were dressed for winter.

Felt really good today, running was easy and it seemed like the run was over barely after I started. I think today's and yesterday's runs were some of the most enjoyable I've had for a while.  Looks like maybe the SGM recovery may be complete!

8:19/155

AM: Seven easy miles in the dark and wind. Temps still nice for October but it looks like that is going to change in a few days.

8:35/154

Noon: Three more miles at work. Bright sunny day, I was able to run sleeveless. Legs felt pretty good so I went with it and snuck in an MP mile at the end.

7:34/166 

Nice recovery run with Kimi just before lunch. Temps cooling off a bit today but still a pretty nice day.

8:50/140 

Ran some uphill repeats in the late AM, similar to last week but added in 1 more repeat. Felt pretty good, temps a little nippy with wind from the south but not too bad.

7:53/162 

Ran just before lunch at work.  Chilly but sunny and not too bad if you were dressed right. I enjoyed the run, didn't pay much attention to the watch so was surprised when the pace stayed in the 7's.

7:51/160 

Nice 7 miler with Kim just before lunch. 

8:47/138 

So Kim and I tried our hand at race pacing today at the Halloween Half Marathon.  When we agreed to pace the 2:30 group I don't think we we're figuring at that time that it might be a little hard to ave 11:25 miles on a very downhill course. But we were able to pull it off and came it right around 2:29 so I think we pretty good. 

Running at that pace ends up giving you a whole different kind of workout so this is probably more of a cross-training workout. I found my quads were getting very tight toward the end and I was almost cramping up. Almost feel more beat up than after running my normal long-run pace.

Didn't have a lot of folks who stayed with us from start to finish but I think we helped a few different runners along the way.

Gotta say that the organization was pretty horrible for a race this big (I heard 4000 runners this year!).  Horrendously long lines to get packets with many folks finding their packets not even there after the long wait. Than more horrendous lines waiting to get on the busses.  I liked the course itself but have no plans of ever paying to run in this race unless they get a clue and figure things out.

Early AM: Ran 7.5 in the bottoms and around ballpark area. Still a few minor aches & pains from the downhill miles at slower than usual pace on Saturday. But overall felt OK.

8:25/155

Lunch: Ran 3 more in the sun.

7:55/155