Every Run is a Great Run!

AM: Brrrr! Felt like a step back to winter this morning with cooler temps and nasty canyon breeze. But all in all ended up being a nice run with Kimi to start the day. As has become the pattern for us as of late we ended doing a bit of a progression run as we pretty much sped up each mile. Ave pace: 9:55

Planning on going out again a lunch today also. Today will likely be my high mileage day of the week. Planning on a reduced mileage week this week to give the legs a bit of a break after 3 consecutive aggressive weeks.

Noon: Went out with Nate and ran LakeView route. Ave pace 7:57.

Ran just before noon at work on Kuhni Road. Kim warmed up with me then I got in a 4 mile tempo in the 1/2 marathon pace range. Finished up with Kim but she was starting to feel her old nemesis IT band pain acting up in her knee so she wisely stopped running and I ran back to work to get the van to go pick her up. Darn the injury bug, we've been so lucky so far I was hoping we had found the magic formula for running injury free. Most likely the long run Saturday along with most Kim's other workouts lately becoming more aggressive on the pace (partly my fault I'm afraid) are what flared up the IT band again. Any advice from you runners who have dealt with IT band issues is greatly appreciated.

The tempo miles went pretty well considering the wind factor. However I cheated a little bit, working it so that I only had the headwind on the last mile, first 3 miles had a decent tailwind to help out. Tried the new DSTrainer2 shoes. They felt pretty good, I think they are a keeper.

Ave tempo pace 6:20, splits were 6:22, 6:20, 6:18, 6:17.

I was freezing when I got back to the gym so I did some biking and circuit/weight training to warm up before stretching.

Ran the Seven Peaks hill loop with Paul and Will just before noon. Nice run, I really enjoyed the sun's rays, the company and conversation wasn't half bad either. Ave pace 8:16.

Yeah that's right, just 2 easy miles today. This is actually what I had scheduled during this reduced mileage week where most the 'reduction' comes the last half of the week. I'm planning on doing a race-like 5K training run tomorrow so I want to be fresh then. I feel a bit more fatigued today than I would like to, perhaps the recovery run I did yesterday was a bit too fast or had too many hills. Hopefully tomorrow I'll feel better and have enough horses to pull off a sub-19 run.

Well the little Uneventful 5K experiment actually went pretty well. Better yet Kim was also able to get some miles today without any IT band pain. Yahoo!

Warmed up a couple of miles solo, then stretched and did another warmup mile with Kim which included a few striders to get the legs ready to make an attempt at a sub-19 5K race-like tempo run. Ran the Canyon Elementary IceBreaker 5K route. Wanted to go out around 6-min pace and see if I could hold it. Held it for 2 mile then faltered a tiny bit on mile 3 but made it up during the last .10 to average 6:00 pace for total time of 18:37. I'm very pleased with this run and although I was very tired at the end and the last mile and a half were a bit painful, I'm pretty sure I could go under 18:30 in a true race environment on a similar flat course. Afterward did 3 miles cooldown run, some with Kim and some solo.

Overall time: 18:37. Ave pace: 6:00/mi. Splits: 5:59, 6:00, 6:03, :33 (5:37 pace on last .10).

Good luck to everyone running down in Moab this weekend! Looking forward to the race reports! 

Logged the goose-egg today. Down in Ephraim/Manti for my Dad's funeral. Kim and I briefly contemplated going out in the early morning hours but we had forgotten how much colder it is down here in the morning compared to SF and we hadn't packed the right gear. Beyond that this is a reduced mileage week anyways and with all that has gone on this week it felt right to forgo the run today.

Although funerals can and should often be times of mourning and much sadness, in this case, where my Dad had lived a rich full life to a ripe age, had been in poor health, and most of all because he missed my Mother terribly (she passed away 15 yrs ago) and was very lonely,  there was a great feeling of peace, thankfulness and rejoicing that he is now out of his misery and reunited with the love of his life. We are so thankful for God's plan of salvation and for the sacrifice of his Son that allows us to enjoy associations with our loved ones beyond the grave. We will surely miss him and still mourn for a time, but we know he is in a better place now.

It was wonderful to spend the day with family and friends, many of whom we hadn't seen for years. We are staying one more night in Manti then Kim will be heading to California for a few days to help my sister-in-law Susan deal with her difficult struggle with cancer and chemotherapy. Hope all goes well for them and that Kim can make a difference, I'm pretty sure she will as she has a gift for bringing sunshine into to the lives of others. I'll miss her while she's gone but I know this will be a blessing for all of us.