Every Run is a Great Run!

AM: Warmed up for about 3 miles then did a 5 mile tempo run. Legs feel pretty good considering I ran a fairly hard race last Thursday and a 21+ mile run on Saturday. However mentally and on the nervous system side of things I felt drained. Also not good sleep at all last night with all the storm and wind commotion. I saw quite a few large tree branches and even a few small trees blown down and blocking the roads so I guess the winds got pretty nasty.

So anyway I decided to give myself a good size pace range so I wouldn't quit early. Decided to run anywhere in the 10K to 1/2 marathon range which I figured to be around 6:00-6:40. I ran the middle section of the Spanish Fork 1/2 marathon course which is quite hilly so I was unable to stay under 6:40 going up Zephyr and toward Harry's Hill, but at least I finished the run and was able to keep the overall pace below 6:30. So all-in-all I think it was an OK workout on a groggy Monday morning. Saw Pat Loss and Kent Wing as I was headed home and talked to them for a bit.

Splits were 6:13, 6:42, 6:52, 6:11, 6:22. Ave pace: 6:28.

PM: Ran 3.1 miles with Nate.

Ave pace: 8:03.

RHR 47

AM: Ran with Kim around the river bottoms. After couple of miles warmup I paced her on a 5 mile tempo run. She did great, averaging around 8:15 per mile and finishing strong as usual. My legs are a bit weary from my tempo run yesterday but not too bad.

Late AM: Just over 10 minutes on the bike then core workout.

RHR 48

AM: Had a hard time getting to sleep last night, not sure why. Wasn't so excited to get up at 4:25. Kim and I ran the Payson canyon downhill run. We were going to run this one Thursday but then we found out a group was running today so we volunteered our van as the transport vehicle and Neldon drove our van back down to Pateetneet (his knees are bad so he does and up/down run instead of all down). Pretty good size group, I think we packed 10 or 11 runners in the van. After a slow warmup mile I sped up a bit and did the rest solo as nobody else wanted to push the pace much. I had a stopwatch but no garmin so I just ran what felt comfortable and resisted the urge to speed up since this is the first time doing the all downhill run. I think most miles were in the 6:30-6:45 range. As the miles felt easy I'm counting most of them as easy despite the faster pace. There may have been a couple in there that felt like marathon pace. I'm feeling really good right now but I'll wait for tomorrow before getting very excited. If all goes well next time I'll remember the garmin and try running more 6-6:30 pace miles since this is the range I'll need to run most the downhill miles at SGM.

This run is pretty steep in spots and a bit risky as far as potential for injury, but if you can survive running if a few times before SGM it makes a big difference as far as being able to push the downhills good all the way to end without completely trashing your legs. The next day you are also the envy of the post-race runners at the hotel as you prance down the stairs while most other runners do the infamous SG-shuffle step.

Total time 1:15:00. Ave pace 6:45.

PM: Ran 3 miles real easy pace at work. Can feel tightness in the ankle/calf/shin area from the downhill but so far not too bad.  Ave pace 8:47.

RHR 47

AM: Ran 5.1 easy miles with Kim around the river bottoms. Slept better last night but it was still hard to get up this morning for the run. My legs are a bit stiff from the downhill run yesterday, mostly in the front leg muscles (quads, shins, ankles) as expected. But I certainly feel better than other years after the first run all the way down, I'm sure the high miles and doing fast workouts with running flats has helped prep the legs for downhill. Also Kim was kind enough to work my legs over a bit last night so I'm sure that helped as well. Thanks Kim! As usual she isn't hardly even sore at all, Coach Tom seems to really have to work her over good to get any kind of soreness or tiredness out of her. Maybe we'll just have to do Loafer one more time or something :)

Ave pace 9:59

Late AM: Ran Lakeview 5.1 mile out&back route. Decided to go earlier than usual to beat the worst of the heat. Right calf is feeling pretty tight today.

Ave pace 8:46

Looks like I ended up with just over 311 miles for July. This is my all-time mileage record. I suppose August will be 300+ as well. Hope my body will stay happy through this peak marathon training period.

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.