Every Run is a Great Run!

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.