Every Run is a Great Run!

Early AM: Winter Wonderland part 2 this morning. Yesterday we had single digit temps that made for frosty trees that sparkled in the light of Kim's mini-flashlight. Today we had 25 degrees and snowstorm with huge fluffy snowflakes. Fun stuff. I'll take 25 and snow over 35 and rain any day. Luckily it was cold enough the roads weren't treacherous to run on so we went over and did 8 repeats up heartbreak hill (steep version). 5 miles.

Late AM: Temps just over freezing and no wind/snow/rain made for not too bad run conditions. Ran 5 more miles on the old Eagle View route that I used to run years ago all the time with the running group from work. Unfortunately our group has dwindled to practically nobody with all the layoffs over the years. So it was a bit lonely running up the big nasty hill solo. Felt pretty good so pushed the pace a little bit.

7:35/169 max 185

Early AM: Six mile loop, temps around 20.

8:39/149

Late AM: Four miles at work on Kuhni Road. Nice to see the sun, temps just above freezing I think. Nice relaxing run.

8:11/148

Six mile loop in the morning with Kim. Warm this morning around 40 degrees but very windy! Guess mother nature doesn't want us to get too comfy. Just glad the wind has been more well behaved when temps were below 20.

9:19/139

Later at work did a really wimpy 20 min XT workout and some core work.

Had a nice long run, some solo but mostly with Pat, Hal and Kim. Nice morning, not too windy and temps around 30-35 degrees. Another peak mileage week for me at least for the last 8 months or so. Most likely I won't see any higher mileage weeks than this until the peak of UVM training in the spring and even then I don't plan on ever going over around 65 mpw.

Kept the pace mostly easy today with maybe 1 mile at marathon pace.

8:37/150

Got in 10 easy miles in the early morning. Ran 4 solo then 6 more with Kim. Warm for December again this morning around 35 with a little wind and some light rain/snow the last 1/2 of the run. Timing was good as things were getting pretty windy/rainy on the drive in to work. We went a different route than usual including a couple miles on the new trail. Feeling pretty good. Looking forward to pacing Kim at the track tomorrow on some mile repeats.

8:50/145

Early AM: Plan was to go to the track and pace Kim on some mile repeats. But with the rain in the night and just below freezing and humid conditions the track had some slick spots and wasn't safe for faster running. So we went across the street and found trail/sidewalk loop that worked pretty good.

Kim did very well and overachieved considering the less than ideal fast running conditions. Goal was to do 3 x 1 mile around 7:30-7:45 pace with 1/2 mile jog rests. She ended up running 7:32/7:24/7:18 (rests around 5:25-5:30) and finished strong. Perfect. Getting real curious to see what she can do in a 5K race.

8:58/146

Late AM: Sun was shining and it looked beautiful outside so I ran 4 mostly on Kuhni Rd. I felt pretty good, had to resist the urge to go faster than easy pace. Need to save something for hills tomorrow. Decided it was OK to at least beat the 8 min man.

7:57/155

Work at home day which usually means a late AM hill workout. Temps nice again around 40. Mostly cloudy more sun would have been nice but I won't complain, it was nice temps for December run. Kim joined me for about 3 miles then I ran the rest solo. Still feeling real good today like I have all week. Since I did some MP miles yesterday I didn't push much today and kept it all in the easy range. If I'm still feeling good Saturday I may push it a bit then.

8:17/151 max 175

Early AM: Six miles solo on a very dark but not too cold (35 degree) morning.

8:24/149

Late AM: Sun was poking out behind the clouds and quite warm for Dec maybe mid-40s. Ran 2 on the roads and 2 BFOG. Ended up that shorts and short sleeves were just dandy for this run.

8:14/150

Ran 6 in the early morning with Kim on our new out-and-back deer trail route. Our timing was good again like it's been all week and we got the warm, cloudy weather but not the rain that came shortly after we were done.

Kim had noticed lately that on days when I've complained of tight calves, usually on cooler humid days like today, I've always been wearing compression socks. So she wondered if they were making the calves worse. Then we read Allie's marathon report wear she ended up ditching the compression socks due to tight calves. So today I didn't wear the socks and had no problems. Guess maybe they are part of the problem not the solution. I'll go without them from now on and see how it goes.

9:06/141

Later did 25 min XT at work and some core stuff.

Kim and I met up with the SF group at 6am and ran with a few different people throughout the run. I also got in a few solo MP miles the last half of the run. Hal and I saw a bunch of big bull elk in the field out south of Osborne's. Looked like the farmer was trying to chase them up into the hills but I think they just wait until he's gone and then come back.  

Legs feeling pretty good most of the week so it's good to know I can handle the mileage for now. Just need to resist the urge to start doing formal tempo runs until 2011. Pace for faster miles 9, 12, and 16 was 7:06, 7:01, and 7:15.

8:16/156 max 182

Woke up a little earlier than normal and decided to get 4 in before the 6 with Kim and be done for the day. A little colder than last week but still much nicer than at Thanksgiving time. Temps around 32 but with the SF canyon winds back in full force. Saw 2 or 3 shooting stars while I was solo and then about that many more with Kim. Nice morning and feels good to get er done for the day.

8:56/147

I love this photo of Provo firemen looking at the picture of Christ recovered from the aftermath of the tabernacle fire.

Early AM: Got lucky again with the weather for Kim's speed workout at the track. Almost 40 degrees, pretty rare for December, although it was pretty windy. Ran 6 x 800m at a little faster than Kim's 5K pace (my MP). We did a similar workout a few weeks ago but did 7 reps at 5K pace or a little slower. I figured 3:30-3:45 was a good range to shoot for and that turned out to be good, with Kim being closer to the 3:30 side for every rep and just sneaking under 3:30 for the last one. Good job Kim! Check out her blog for exact numbers. Six miles total.

8:43/154

Late AM: 4 more miles at work. Just ignored the watch, no HR monitor. Felt good.

8:05

Didn't get out until about 2pm due to work meetings and the roads being entirely soupy and sloppy in the morning with the storm. Weather and roads were actually pretty nice by this time (35 degrees) but I'm not used to running this late in the day and with too much food in my belly. Must have eaten too much for my early lunch and felt a little nauseous by the end. Ran a couple miles with Kim then ran my hill workout. Legs actually felt really good but the sour gut feeling wasn't so enjoyable. Pushed the pace a little at the end just so I could be done.

8:09/159 max 178

Early AM: 5 miles easy on a cold, crisp, clear morning. 18 degrees with a bit of canyon wind. Maybe our days of above freezing AM runs are done for a while. But not too bad if you're dressed right for it. Think I've finally figured out how to dress properly for the cold without going overboard. Just gotta remember it's OK to be a little uncomfortable the first mile in order to enjoy comfort the rest of the miles.

8:39/150

Late AM: 5 more miles on Kuhni Rd at work. For a little experiment and to amuse myself I attemped to do this run at the same effort level and ave HR as the morning run. Curious what the pace difference would be with it being later in the day, warmer, less wind, etc. The verdict: looks like I buy about 30+s/mile faster with the later run.

8:07/150 probably about 10 degrees warmer than this morning.

Got up early, looked outside to see canyon winds in force, checked temps and saw low teens w/ wind chill around 0 degrees. Talked Kim into playing our run-later-in-the-day card. Of course later in the day I almost always wish I got it done earlier and I was having trouble getting motivated since the sun didn't want to come out. But finally around 11am I headed over to the gym then out to Kuhni Rd for a 5 miler, nearly identical to yesterday. Never did see the sun but it actually turned out being a real nice run, my legs feel pretty fresh this week and I was dressed just about right for the mid 20 temps.

8:04/152

So sad to see the Provo Tabernacle on fire.

One of those days when you're questioning your sanity and glad to have done and in the books. Kim and I both had things going on this morning so we went out at 5 with Kay to find ourselves in windy, blizzardy snowy conditions! Luckily the roads were runnable and not terribly slippery. It actually was kind of nice and peaceful when the wind was at your back, but in your face with snow pelting you in the eyes wasn't quite as fun.

Parted ways with Kay around 7 miles and with Kim just shy of 10 miles and finished the rest solo. The only other runners I saw were the Amos brothers and Hal didn't actually run but talked himself into going later in the day, but as usual he was so kind enough to put out the water/gatorade at Osbornes.

Didn't even attempt to hit any pace today, just happy to finish without any slips or falls. I think the conditions probably add about a minute/mile to pace. Felt more like 20 miles than 15.

9:25/147

Yeah that's right - the dreaded goose egg on the running miles. Woke up to about a foot of the wettest, sloppies, goopiest snow/slop you've ever seen and realized no outside run was likely to happen today. But it's probably actually a good thing since I've had a bit of cold & scratchy throat over the weekend and I'm due for a rest week. So we'll be happy with a needed extra day off and with the 60-90 minutes of lead-weight snow shovelling. I'll try again Tuesday on the dreaded t-mill if need be.

I love this photo of Provo firemen looking at the amazing picture of Christ recovered from the aftermath of the tabernacle fire.

I think Mother Nature has some serious PMS this week!! Had to deal with about a foot of extra sloppy wet snow yesterday and figure that must be the worst of it. Kim and I had driven around last night and found some clear and fairly dry roads that we thought would work for an outside run today.

However as you can see from the photo Kim snapped early, when we woke up this morning we found at least ANOTHER FOOT of snow to deal with. So we spent the morning shoveling snow like crazy! So I'll count that as 90 min SS XT.

Managed to make it to work so that meant I would at least have the treadmill option. But I really truly hate the treadmill. Can't stand running even a few miles so I knew running 10 would not likely be very fun. It wasn't. But I keep reading other bloggers doing these massive 18-22 milers on the TM so with that though in mind I did manage to get to 10. 

To break up the monotony in the middle I decided to do a similar workout to what Kim had planned today which was 6-8 x 200 around 7 min pace or a bit faster. Afterward I realized I ended up actually doing 9. Whatever I was just glad to get this one done.

7:55/165 max 182

For a good laugh check out this animation/electronic-voice video showing a runner attempting to explain the "joy" of running to a non-runner.  For the link to work you'll probably have to have a facebook account.

http://www.facebook.com/?ref=home#!/video/video.php?v=1498758429359&comments

Got up just before 6am and was very happy to NOT see a bunch more snow to shovel, AND despite the fact that last night weather.com had predicted 100% chance of rain at this time it was actually NOT raining. Also temps in the mid-30's so not too cold, I opted for shorts and a couple long sleeve shirts and was just fine and dandy.

Ran a couple miles with Kim, being very careful to avoid all the big puddles, then I did a few hills and Kim did her own thing. Just took it easy today since I did some MP miles yesterday and my upper body is a bit sore from all the snow shoveling.

8:40

Early AM: Ran 5 nice and easy with Kim in the foggy-foggy-dew. Very light rain almost more like a mist. Probably to the average joe it looked pretty dreary and uninviting outside, but I thought it was kinda peaceful and even pleasant, even if it was a little eerie. Big highlight of the morning was Kim doing a nifty dance when she nearly tripped on a dead raccoon.

No watch, I think Kim said around 9:15 pace.

Late AM: Ran 2 more outside then 20 minutes XT. Felt good.

7:44/145

Found youtube/embeddable version of the video I posted a facebook link to earlier in the week. I must confess that I've been guilty of conversations resembling this one over the years. 

Met up at 6am with the SF running group for a Christmas Eve morning fun run. At least fun for most of us except for maybe Kimi who had plans for a 5K time trial toward the end of the run. Nice morning, no wind, not foggy as expected and a little warmer than expected (35 degrees?).

Ran with the group for about 4 miles then a couple more with Kay and Jill and then it was time for Kim's 5K. We started with a bit of downhill just to help get us "launched" and then the plan was to try and keep all the miles at least below 8 min pace so they all started with a 7.

I was quite surprised how well Kim was able to do, holding the pace close to 7:30 the whole time. There was a period at the beginning of mile 3 where we slowed down a little but then the last 1/2 mile or so she really picked it up, finishing at close to 7 min pace. Very impressive! A big 5K PR for Kim finishing in 23:20 and looking good for another PR at Painters 5K in 4 weeks.

Check out Kim's race report for all the nitty-gritty.

Nice leisurely 6 miler in the afternoon with Kim. Merry Christmas everyone!

8:58/131

Ten easy miles in Manti, 5 of them with Kim. Foggy and 15 degrees starting out and it didn't look so inviting, but it actually ended up being very nice run with the fog burning off and the sun even making an appearance toward the end.  Also ran into a couple old friends along the way and stopped to talk for a bit. Always nice to come back to the old stomping grounds and spending time with family and friends.

Now off to St. George for a few days - sure hope the sun sticks around for a little while!

8:49/143

Got the 10 miler done in the morning. Staying in St. George at the condo for a few days. Was hoping for nice weather but looks like after yesterday and today we'll have to say goodbye to the sun and highs in the 50s and get ready for rain, snow and colder.

Ran first 5 or so miles with Kim as did an exploratory run to see if we could locate some of the river trails we haven't run on yet since many sections of the trail that we have run on before are closed due to the nasty storms and flooding last week. Did finally find the trail that heads up toward Snow Canyon but after about a 1/2 mile it was closed as well due to being covered with mud and gook where it headed under the road.

So we headed back to roads near the condo and Kim finished up and I did a few hill reps up/down Canyon View Drive.

8:31/147

Let the rains begin!  Woke up around 7 and as forecasted the rains had begun to fall in STG. But they were pretty gentle and temps were in low 40's and we've certainly run in alot worse. So we headed out to get er done.

Since most our regular trail routes are closed right now we decided to drive into town and run on the streets of the main part of town. Ended up being a nice albeit soggy run. Ran about 6.5 with Kim then the rest solo back to the condo. Picked it up the last part with Kim as she had the horses neighing, mostly in the 7-7:30 range so I'll count 2 miles as MP.

8:39/145

Final St. George run for the week this morning as we were able to survive the bad roads later in the day and make it home safe and sound. Rest day for Kim so I went solo. Temps weren't too bad and no rain/snow but heavy duty winds the made me feel like I was already back home in SF. 

Decided to do an out-and-back run with the "out" part being uphill and straight into the wind so that I could coast back to the condo on the "back" part. Ended up on the trail that heads up toward Snow Canyon and was glad to find no closures along the way due to flooding. Just took it nice and easy today. Sad that it didn't work out to run with Brent and Sylvie this trip but looking to hooking up in 2011 with NICE WEATHER for a nice dirt trail run with Kim and one of the all-time great running couples the Barneys.

8:38/152

Felt good to sleep in today. Went running with Kim just before 10am. Cold today but could be a  lot worse. I guess tomorrow it will be worse. Biggest problem was finding any roads with decent footing, I sure hope the roads are better by tomorrow. Still did plenty of slipping and sliding but managed to avoid falling down or getting injured. No point in worrying about pace in these conditions so we didn't.  Finished with 15-20 minutes of snow shoveling XT.

Looks like I'll end up with just over 2200 miles for 2010 and 250 miles for this month. Not too bad after missing nearly 2 months due to the foot injury. Nice to have a good base heading into 2011 and to feel pretty good most every day. Hope everyone has a happy new year!

9:30/130