I run therefore, I am!

I set up and poured a floor for Ranna Bieshke, the race director of Moab half today.  It was 91 degrees and windy which didnt help out the flat work.  It was 22 yards and im glad its over.  I was going to try to run down there in moab but it was too hot by the time i was done. Not to mention i was wiped out.

Swam 1 mile this morning.  I did it without stopping which is something ive been building up to do. I ran 1 easy mile on the treadmill while conversing with a potential blog user. I just wanted to get something in before i had to go to work and made it a mile. better than nothing!

swam with my wetsuit on for a half a mile.

I swam 1800 yards this morning and then ran a slow 2 miles and thats all i can say about that.

Ok I lied, I ran 7 miles on the park trail at 4 pm and did it at an extremely slow pace 8 min miles to get my miles in but be very carefull  with my knee. It felt good but it was hot.

I know this is going to sound absurd but I did a speed workout this morning with some friends that are training for St. George and I ran there speed.  I did 10*200's at a 45 second pace.  I did 1*400 at a 1:35 pace.  we warmed up with 1.5 miles and cooled down with 1 mile.  total of 6.5 miles.

Ok here is my pathetic attempt to do something out of the ordinary.  I got to the start line of the swim in the Snake river in Burley.  There was at least a 40 mph wind coming from the west blowing east.  I thought it wouldnt affect me because the current is going west and would pull me but with the wind hitting the water, it turned into whitecaps similar to the sand hollow disaster a couple of weeks ago.  I started my swim and it was my first open water so I was nervous.  I tried to get air but everytime i tried to pull my head up out of water,  a wave would crush down on me.  At one point it hit me three breaths in a row and I was suffocating.  The boat tried getting me in but i wouldnt get in I treaded water for a bit till I could breathe and worked my way to the finish. I had swallowed a fair amount of the river as well as alot of the other swimmers. In fact they had pulled almost half the swimmers out of the water before they finished so I felt like I was ahead of the game a bit. I got my bike jersey on and thought Id be alright because it was about 60 degrees and I started biking and that head wind was slowing everyone down.  I was going on average 10-11 mph on my bike which I could run faster!  It was 25 miles of head wind and the rest was at our back.  At mile 20 I had to go to the bathroom bad and saw a gas station so I went in and asked if I could use there facility and they said NO! so I went outside and just as I opened the doors to come out of the station, I puked!   just outside the doors.  Most of it was river water and I walked over to my bike and puked 2 more times.  I made it to the aid station at mile 23 and went to the bathroom and puked again and I had a line waiting for me outside the portapotti so I forced myself to go out and get back on my bike and I started biking and made it to mile 25 and we finally got a tailwind that was nice, but I was so wiped out from puking that everytime I tried drinking my water Id puke. I made it to mile 33 where there was an ambulance and they pulled me from the race and took my bike back.  I probably would have made the bike with only 23 miles to go but I knew I would be in trouble for the season if I forced myself to try and finish.  It was the first race Ive never been able to complete and it frustrated me but I have to think about the bigger picture for this year. Maybe next time ill plan one out at the end of the year.  It was the hardest thing ive ever done and at the end of the race I talked to a couple of good triathletes that ran down in st. george when they stopped the race on the sprint triathletes and he told me the water was way worse here than down there so Im chalking this up as a learning race and if the elements are this extreme Ill never do one again.

Ran 5.5 miles this morning with Jody.  Got to get to know her and she is very passionate about running just like all us crazy runners.   she's in good company of friends from this blog including marcie and josse.  She told me about scrapping and Ive got to look into that. Ive never heard anything about it before. 

I ran the park trail this morning with Misty, Danielle, and Angelica.  We did 3 miles north from Gardner villiage slow 9 minute warm up miles.  then we did a tempo run back.  I sustained a 7 minute mile with Danielle until mile 5 and then I ran full race pace and got a 5:37 for the last mile.  I was upset because everytime I looked down at my watch it read 5:15 pace.  Ive got to do more tempo runs!  I then ran back until i met up with Misty and Angelica.

I ran from my house to the Daybreak loop and back.  Lots of runners out this morning! My time for 6 miles was 37:50  I kept feeling discomfort from my right achilles heel. It was a killing me!

Ok I drove up to Bear lake saturday morning from Logan to run the half marathon.  It was pretty unorganized from the get go and we bussed up to the start and there were no porta potties. Just a farmers field with alfalfa about 18" tall.  I went as far away from the start line as I could and went with several others doing the same.  I went to the start line and took my warmup clothes off and there was no clothing drop!  I went to the official and complained about it and one of the volunteers had a suv that we threw all our stuff in.  The race started at 8 am and the sun was up with a slight head wind.  We started on the South East corner of the lake and made our way around to Garden City park.   The miles were in a count down fasion so we actually started at 13.1 and counted down. I actually liked that. When we started everyone was running so slow and you know me, I like to bust out of the gate!  I actually ran a 6:31 for my first 1.1 mile which was about a 6 minute pace. I felt good, the scenery was the best but the course was so straight that it got boring quick and after 2 miles I grabbed a drink and looked behind me and found myself alone!  I then kept a 6 minute mile for a few miles and I got bored so every water station I stopped and drank the water and gatorade and talked for a few seconds to the volunteers.  After 7 miles I started playing a game of what I thought I could run the next mile in to keep my mind off the long straight parts.  I guessed a 6:15 for the first one and slowed my pace down and nailed it! the next mile I told myself to break a 6 minute so I sped up a bit and got a 5:57.  Then I tried to do a 6 even mile and hit a 6:01!  That was the only thing that kept my mind off the course.  I finished in 1:19 which is not a banner Half for me but with WBR next week I used this as a good training run.   The second place runner came in at 1:25 and the 3rd was a lady with a 1:26!  This is my first Half marathon win so I feel real good have finally won a race of this caliber.  I won $100 bucks, a free entrance to next year, and a trophey.  I also saw Chad and Jon up there running the 10K and they did a 2nd and 3rd overall with some good competition up there for that race from the sounds of it so make sure you read there blogs. 

ran 3 easy miles.  Had a full day of work and all evening doing my quarterly taxes for my business.  I really hate that.  I wont tell you what I think would be worse than that but Im afraid id jinx myself. I can tell you what Id rather be doing if you blog me! wink wink

I ran 5.52 in 38:57 which is a 7:04 average mile.  I ran the Daybreak loop and shaved a little bit off because I had a stomach ache.

I did a speed workout on riverton high's track which just so happens to be home of James Barnes team.   I did 4*200's and 5*400's.  My 200' were 38-41 seconds and my 400s were 2-1:17's and 2-1:24's  I warmed up with  a 2 miler and cooled down with a 1.5 miler.  I jogged after every interval. I felt really good this morning, like I could take on the world! Like I could grab life by the horns and wrap it up and put it in my pocket!  thats my quote from Chris Farley.  I'll tell you your going to be living in a van down by the river!

I swam 800 yards this morning.  I swam 1-400 in8:09, the second I swam in 8:16.  I havnt swam for 2 weeks and I cant believe how tired i was.  I then ran 3 miles slow outside. Ive got the worst farmers tan from work! 

I woke  up sore today from having to work a full day with my guys yesterday.  I havnt worked a full day like that in over a year and my back was sore.  I ran with missee and stacy this morning around daybreak.  It was good to get to know them. Now we just have to wait for stacy to get on the blog.  (pressure, pressure!)  I glad I ran, it woke my body up.  Now im ready for WBR baby!

Ok I started my race on friday around 8pm.  It was pretty hot!  My first leg was 5.1 miles and my split times were:  1--5:21, 2--5:45, 3--6:00, 4--6:10, 5--6:22 overall time 31:27.  I felt really until the heat got to me.  I had a good 3 miles and then I was toast.  My second leg was this morning at 12:16 am. It was hard to get my legs back into a rythm. It was a total of 2.93 miles and my splits are 1--5:40, 2--5:57, 3--5:24. my overall time was 17:02.   I immediately fell asleep as Kimball drove us to the sleep station.  I woke up at 4 am to the sound of Sasha screeming "Walter and Tyler" where are you!  I had the worst time sleeping and  my last leg had 559' of incline in it and when I got out of the van my body said, not today!  So of course i ignored it and ran my last leg of 5 miles.  my splits are 1--6:44, 2--7:01, 3--6:18, 4--6:13, 5---5:22. overall time was 31:40. We came in behind BYU by about 40 minutes and that put us in 2nd.  We also had  another  team that was the blue team that came in behind us.  Im pretty sure we got 2nd and 3rd.  It was a great time had by all and I would deffinately write a page from this but I keep falling asleep. Thanks to all that put me on the team and let me pretend I had a chance to beat some awesome college guys.  Maybe next time.

I swam 1/2 mile this morning at dimple dell.  I did 1/4 in 8 minutes and the other in 7:45 minutes.  The water felt good to get into after yesterdays race.

I ran 6+ miles this morning with Jody and Paula.  Our last mile was a 7:41! very nice My legs felt like rocks and my side were aching.  It was good to do this.  

I did some speed work this morning on riverton's track.  After a mile and a half warmup I did 8x200's and 4x400's.  my 200's pace was around 39-43.  My 400's were 1.13-124. Then I did a cool down.   It was hard and my legs are still tired from saturday.  Its been harder to recover from the WBR then a half marathon.   It was real windy this morning and the sprinklers were watering the track more than the lawn.  It was a shocker to get hit with a spray of canal water at 5:30 in the morning!  I hope I dont get sick. 

I ran 10 miles tonight up millcreek canyon from the gate close to the top to the upper parking lot. It was close to 5 miles up at a 8:15 pace. The elevation started at 6077' and ended at 8000' which was a rise of 1923' over the 5 miles.  Most of the rise was at the top.  It took me 42 minutes to get up and coming down I did a 5:45, 5:28, 5:08, 6:05,5:17.  My hip took some serious jolts and Ill have to ice it tonight.

I ran the daybreak loop with my sis in law who is down from Hamilton Montana.  She's training for St. George and her kids are doing the swim camp  at BYU for 2 weeks.  For those who havnt been to Hamilton, your missing out!  Brad Pitt shot his movie "a river runs through it" there and he actually owns alot of land off the bitter root river.   He even bought the bar that he was killed in the movie in.  We ran 7.5 miles at a 9:46 average which felt pretty good to do a nice paced run this morning.  My right hip is in a bit of trouble. I cant tell if its my muscle or problems from 1993 when I got hit by a car.  I can usually feel quite a bit of pain at the end of marathons from my hips and pelvis.  But Ill keep icing it and live to be another day older.

I drove up to park city and ran with Clyde, Chad, Adam W., Meagan, Josh, Steve, Jeff Mclellan, and I hope I didnt leave anyone out.  We ran a great loop and after a few miles I got to talking with Jeff and he pulled my pace quicker and we soon found ourself  ahead a ways.  We followed the park city half marathon course and then the start of the marthon course.  We ended  up running a few more miles than the others at an insane pace. Jeff is a great runner, very strong. We caught up to the others on their last mile and finished up with them.  It was about 45 degrees in the morning and warmed up to the 60's by the finish.  It was sooo nice up there this morning. 

I went up to millcreek main gate and ran 5 miles up and 5 miles back.  As I was going up a bike wizzed by me and I made it a goal to keep him in my sites.  It got steep and he slowed to a crawl and I passed him and got a good 300 meters ahead of him.  As it started to level out I made it to mile 4 and he passed me again and then there was some more steep parts.   I worked hard to catch him and I could tell he didnt want me to beat him to the top so he got up on his peddles and was working hard.  Just as I kept getting a few meters from him there would be a level area and hed take off and then Id catch him again on the steep.  He ended up beating me by about 100 feet and he was surprised I could keep up.  I told him Id race him to the bottom and he laughed.  I made it up and back in 1 hour and 12 minutes.  I averaged 7:45's up and 6:20 down.  I love that course, its going to be opened tommorrow for traffic. Bummer.