Turn your rut into a groove.

am--5.5 Truncated morning run, chatting about SEC v. Big 12. 

am--6 Same morning run as yesterday w/ a tiny extension. It was a tid bit chilly this morn. 

am--7 Nice run around the neighborhood. The pace seemed steady, and the weather was brisk. 

pm--8 Workout w/ the girls--800, 1000, 1200, 1000, 800, and 3 x 400. The times went something like this: 3:12, 3:47, 5:15, 3:47, 3:12, 1:29, 1:29, and 1:29. The 1000 loop is a tiny bit short. The legs are tired, but the will is strong.  

am--3 Nice little Arctic Circle run before heading up north. This morning was nice, temperature-wise. 

pm--4 A PG run w/ the girls after gorging ourselves on pizza. We ended w/ fartleks; everyone got to call one.  

am--4 Ran around AF high school in the frizzin' snow and watched the kids run. They ran hard, considering the week and the conditions. It's always fun to see kids have good races but hard to see kids have a tough race. It's the experience that is the take-away. 

am--3 AC w/ the girls. 

pm--7.75 In the wind and the cold, I ran up to the old Swiss Days course and then hit Pioneer Parkway and came back home via Canyon View. Towards the end I threw in 4 x 1 min. w/ 1 min. recovery. The whole run was at a decent pace.  

am--6.75 Nice little solo morning run in the chilly autumn weather. The legs were a bit tight at the beginning but loosened up by the end. 

pm--4.5 I retired to the tready and hit a run w/ the pace progressing a tiny bit each mile and 3 x 400 @ 5%.  

pm--5.5 Ran to 2450 to do some grass loops--I didn't go barefoot because a blister on my toe--then back to the school for striders. It was beautiful out. 

am--6.75 Nice little morning run w/ a little extension. 

pm--3.5 Warm-up and cool-down w/ the kids around the 2-mile time trial before a wonderful XC banquet.  

am--3 Last morning run of the season w/ the girls. Easy AC. 

pm--4.5 Green Springs w/ some leap frog and other silliness.

am--12.75 I got out and ran on my own in the neighborhood and then changed shoes and headed out on the Rim trails w/ Tom. It was nice to hit the trails again. 

Oh and I hit 2,000 miles for the year today.  

am--7 Nice solo run, wandering around the neighborhood here and there. It was kind of a patchwork of all former morning-run routes. The pace was decent after I got going. 

pm--6.5 Went to the middle school to do wave hills, back to the high school for 3 x 200 and 3 x 100, and finished w/ a Harts cool-down.  

am--6.75 For the 2nd day in a row, my running partner has flaked out, but the solo running has been nice. I hit the usual morning run w/ a tiny extension. Everything felt pretty good even though I was worried about my knee. 

Last night, my knee started to develop a dull ache when I bent it to about 90 degrees. I was worried it might runner's knee or something. But, that pain wasn't a problem after I started running especially when I remembered that I knocked my knee on a door yesterday.

pm--5.5 We ran to the middle school to do grass loops and then back to the high school for striders. Everything felt great. 

am--6.75 Nice morning run in the slightly-colder-than-yesterday air. It's been a high mileage week for me so far, but the legs still feel pretty good. I'm front loading because I'm not sure how the weekend mileage will work. 

pm--6 Harts warm and cool sandwiched around 3 x 600 @ a stronger-than-tempo pace and 3 x 100 @ a sprint in between each 600. These workouts kill me. Natural speed is not something I came with. On the other hand, it makes me proud to see the girls put a gap on me in such a  short distance.  

am--6.5 Had a nice little run this morning and realized that an argument is a one-sided discussion. 

am--3 In Flagstaff w/ the team. I could live in Northern Arizona.

pm--4 NXN course in the 70-degree weather.  

am--4.75 A nice little drizzly run up to the Canyons and back home. 

pm--6 Ran the mall run and then hit 5 wave hills on the way back to the school.  

am--6 Nice morning run on the usual route w/ conversation centered on motivation. 

pm--3.5 Warm and cool w/ the kids around their Michigans.  

am--11.25 I woke up w/ a headache and wasn't sure how the running part of the day would go. But things subsided and I got out for a run. I headed out towards Ivins on Santa Clara Dr. and then up into Ivins by Lava Ridge. Once I hit Ivins I tried to move things to a moderate pace into Dixie Downs and back home. Overall, things felt pretty good. We'll see how many of these double-digit singles I can put together over the break. 

am--10 Met up w/ Tom and went to partially participate in the Running Center Barrel Roll run. We started a bit earlier to hit Sidewinder as well, so the RC group was all over the place. After, the fam went to SC elementary where I ran a few grass loops. 

pm--11.5 I really didn't feel like running all day and was in a bummer mood most of the day. One of the more productive things I did was sort through all the old RWs and dogear each of Ed Eyestone's articles. This came in handy later when I finally got my butt out the door to run. 

I went over to Mathis Park, intending on running a few laps around the grass and then heading home. But the grass was saturated, and, after I was warmed up a bit, I was feeling super. So I used some of the knowledge I gained from Mr. Eyestone and hit a timed fartlek--10, 5, 4, 3, 2, and 1 w/ equal recovery jog in between. I started at 7:30 pace and knocked it down to under 6:15 for the last one. The knock down was roughly :15 per bout. The workout felt great. There's nothing like the mood swing that a good run can bring.  

am--7 Didn't have a GPS on this baby, but it has to be close to 7. Went w/ Tom, Perk, and the long hairs from the Chuckwalla trailhead to Scout Cave and back. There was some decent climbing and some fast-paced stuff on the way back. The quality today more than made up for the lack of quantity. 

am--4 Woke up late and forgot to pack my stuff for after school. To top it all off, I got home w/ a headache, so I didn't think a run was on the horizon. That couldn't happen. Ended up on the tready, swapping 400s between 8:30 and 7:30 pace. Nothing special. 

am--6 Same ol' morning run, a bit cooler than advertised. 

pm--4.25 Hot Nails w/ 3 x 200 on the track.  

pm--7 Long way to hills (x5) and back to the school. Then, when I got home, I ran to my In-Laws for dindin. Now I get to send out positive vibes to the kids running this weekend.