Psalm 91:1 NKJV He who dwells in the secret place

Temperature was 9 degrees this morning with only a 9 mph wind. The weather said last night that we would have are coldest day in years for the first of April in a long time. With the wind not blowing bad it was fine.

I ran 11.3 miles at a 6:53 pace in 1:17. I picked it up towards the end of the run. I did my Satterfield hill loop.

mile 7: 6:25 downhill very easy

mile 8: 6:17 downhill didn't fell like I was doing much.

mile 9 6:18 downhill just little gravity pull me down the hill

mile 10: 6:03 flat picked it up a bit, but didn't feel too difficult.

mile 11: 6:32 flat cooling down a bit.

My left calf where I fell up the stairs the other day is still bothering me a bit. The test will be on a long run to see if it gets sore at all.

Evening:

I only wanted to run 3 miles tonight after work, because I knew that's all I would have time for because of the busy day of configuring two Sun server with 8 CPU's, with a Raid setup.. I got off work at 5:30pm and needed to pick-up my daughter by 6pm, but I wanted to just run slow, because I kind of felt sore today. I don't know what happened but it wasn't slow like I planned. I ran 3.3 miles at a 6:35 pace in 21:45 minutes, splits (7:19, 6:35, 5:54). Tomorrow I'll just try to run an easy run. I want to hit about 70 miles this week for a taper, and I'll probably do a long run of 15-17 miles maybe some miles at marathon pace.

Very nice weather today! 23 degrees, no wind, clear day! What a beautiful morning to run! I ran 5 miles uphill and 5 miles downhill up Pocatello City Creek on the back side where the Pocatello Marathon starts. From my house it takes me a little over a mile to get to the Pocatello City Creek area 10.3 miles at an overall 6:47 pace in 1:10. I ran the first 5 uphill around 7:15 pace and the last 5 miles at (6:43, 6:12, 6:01, 6:18, 6:22) downhill. I didn't push the pace downhill at all.

This training that I've done for Salt Lake Marathon has been whatever I've felt like doing for the day. I've never done this leading into a marathon, and its going to be interesting to see what comes out of it. I've definitely put in the miles, but have I put enough quality miles in to benefit a good performance.

 
Evening:

 Ran 4.5 miles at a 6:56 pace in 31:30 minutes from my work to where my oldest daughter was playing her soccer game.  The last two miles were uphill.  That's all for today really nothing special about this run.  My daughter tied in their soccer game.

This morning it was 15 degrees but now wind.   I got 7 hours of sleep last night and felt pretty good in the morning.  My run was good, and I felt I had  a lot of energy, but I do need to foam roll my legs out tonight.  I ran 11.2 miles at overall 6:43 in 1:15.  I wanted to run something different so I ran down everyone of our side streets up and down each block until I hit the end by a major intersection.

I'm going to do my long run tomorrow so I'm not sure if I should do anymore miles today since its a cut back week for SLC marathon.  What do you think? 

I was woke up about 12:30 with our java server failing so I had to restart the server so my sleep was interrupted. This mad me really tired this morning. I really didn't get back to sleep after this, because I kept thinking while trying to get back to sleep where I'm I going to run for my long run in the morning.

Not this morning I did my long run for 21.5 miles at an overall 6:47 pace in 2:27. First 10 miles in the wind and that wasn't fun. I was really sluggish for the first 5 miles not sure why, but then the legs finally woke up. I took my fuel belt and drank about 12oz of water and took two power-gels. I wanted to simulate my drinking and fuel.

I really didn't feel fresh on this run and I really didn't push anything so I hope this is not a bad sign for SLC.   I wanted to do some MP miles in this run but I ended up really not doing any so I'm a little concerned in that area heading into the Marathon.  After mile 11 I did consecutive miles with the following splits ( 6:36, 6:32, 6:28, 6:18, 6:23, 6:36, 6:33, 6:33).  The first 10 miles were a slight uphill, but really flat and the second half was half.  I did 12 of the miles on the last part of the Pocatello marathon course 6 the reverse way and 6  back on the course.

 If I feel like it tomorrow I might do some MP miles, but I have a very busy day.

Finally, home from Idaho Falls tonight! Before we left for Idaho Falls (8am) for an all day Soccer and Dance competition for our girls I did my run. I thought I would try to throw in a few fast miles to see how I felt after my 21 miler yesterday. I didn't do too bad, I ran 8.1 miles at an overall 6:32 pace in 53:ll minutes. Then a .3 cool-down after that. I wanted to pick the pace up the last three miles in a headwind

6:33 - warming up

6:44 - strong winds and going uphill with a dog chasing after me.

6:21 - strong wind going over the overpass on Yellowstone street. The gusts were in surges along with the continuous wind. Quads were a little sore from yesterday.

5:57 - still heading in the wind. Not sure if I can hold this pace for the SLC, but two weeks I'll found out if it's a reality.

6:01 - wasn't too bad for the last mile. The effort didn't feel too difficult.

Glad for the day-off tomorrow, and ending the taper week over 80 miles.

I do need to cut back next week so I don't get myself in a situation that I feel over-trained.  I will only do 50 miles next week, and then 30 for the marathon week.

No running today.  Today at church my work phone called and I had to leave Church to repair a hard drive that received a bad block and was detached from one of the disk mirrors.  But we have Church tonight so at least I will be able to have a useful day.

8 hours of sleep last night Great!

Last night I got over 8 hours of sleep and felt fresh and energized today. I've been really busy at work and its going to continue for the next two weeks, but I'll survive.

This morning when I woke up there was snow on the ground and it was sprinkling outside, but there was no wind. It really wasn't that cold at 27 degrees. I decided to do a 8 mile run and run the first four at a relaxed pace and then finish the last four at a medium tempo pace.

I did the first four at a slight uphill at a 65% aerobic pace (7:25, 7:02, 7:11, 6:44) then on the first two downhill miles I ran (6:13, 6:14) then the last two miles on a completely flat stretch (6:08, 5:59). It's funny that I ran the last two flat course miles faster than the downhill miles. But the effort felt harder than it should (maybe I've overtrained a bit).

Totals: 8.32 miles at an overall 6:37 pace in 55:12 minute.

Evening:

I wasn't going to run, but I'm addicted and just couldn't keep myself from running, but I will taper and cut the miles. It was just an easy run 3.3 miles at a 7:08 pace right after work. I was so busy today and the rest of the week. This Friday i'm leaving work early to spend two days with my family in Boise at my Daughter's soccer tournament.

This morning the weather was 15 degrees with no wind and it didn't feel cold at all. I got 8 hours of sleep last night and felt fresh. I ran the 10 miles in 1:06 which is way too fast than I wanted to run. But I felt good today, and the run really felt like I was running an easy pace (I guess I must have ate some good wheaties last night). I finished the run with 10.3 miles at an overall 6:40 pace in 1:08. This will be my only run today to continue to cutback for the taper week (if I can contain myself from running after work).

I have a full day at work today, and then have to pick my daughter up from soccer practice after work at 6pm. I really don't have a busy night after work so my rest should be able to continue.

I'm really hoping the weather in Salt Lake City is good for the marathon. No headwind on the course.

Evening

Well I said I wasn't going to run, but I did run one mile to go get my car from Les Schwab. My wife and I drove over there and she took me back to work and our car was done about 30 minutes later.  I had the tires rotated and the breaks checked (their about 30 to 40 percent left), and everything looks good for traveling to Boise this weekend.  I did the mile at an easy 7:26 pace.

Another night of 8 hours of sleep. I felt really refreshed again this morning. Temperature was 21 degrees with a 9mph SW wind.

I did a couple of warm-up miles to start my run this morning. After that I thought I would do a little speed play, so I did one tempo mile at 5:51, then the next two miles I did 400m fartleks (6:13,6:09). Now these are the total pace for the mile not the fartlek portion, during the fartlek portion I was running between a 5:30 - 5:40 pace. Then I did another 800m fartlek on the next mile (6:15, had some uphill in this mile). Then I did another tempo mile 5:59. The last two miles at a moderate pace (6:29, 6:38). Overall I did 10.2 miles at an overall 6:29 pace in 1:06.

The effort felt a little harder than it should have which is not good going into the SLC Marathon. But I'll give it everything I have in SLC and if I hit the wall at the end at least I'll know what I need to work on. Adam and I are just going to have to stay focused and nail those miles. I've been looking at the SLC course with the course tool and the second half is where we will really need to be strong.

 I got 7 hours of sleep last night and didn't really sleep the best, but I didn't feel too bad waking up.  The temperature outside was 25 degrees with a 15 mph wind blowing Southwest.

I decided to do some uphill and downhill miles and just run easy today.  I ran 10.2 miles at a 6:49 pace in 1:09.   I really wanted to let my legs relax since I pushed a little harder the last couple of days.  It started snowing a little bit but not hard during the run.  I ran a couple of downhill miles in (6:14, and 6:27) and that was not really doing feel like I was putting any effort into it.  The uphill was good work, and I had a nice view crossing the bridge over the interstate to I-15.

Tomorrow I might do 13 miles and copy Adam RW and run 5-6 at MP pace to see how I feel one week away from SLC Marathon.  I wish I could do this on the course.

This morning I had to get up early and do my run, because I had to take my son to the early learning screening where they test the child's eyes, ears, speech etc.

The temperature was 26 degrees which wasn't bad at all with some wind blowing. I did manage to get 7 hours of sleep last night but it wasn't very good sleep so I was tired when I woke up.

I wanted to run 13 miles and at least get 4 marathon pace miles in for the run.   I really didn't feel that energic.

Mile 1: 7:16 Warmup.

Mile 2: 6:46 Warmup - just getting loose.

Mile 3: 6:40 Felt pretty easy, but my mind was tired.

Mile 4: 6:28 Trying to get a feel for how I want to approach this run. Every mile on this course is either flat or a 0.5 to 1% uphill so it's a pancake.

Mile 5: 6:25 Slight uphill and was getting into a rythm.

Mile 6: 6:29 Slight Uphill mostly flat, running out of the city area which seemed to drop the temperature about 7 degrees.

Mile 7: 6:31 There was a train stuck at the crossing so I had to stop and turn around and alter my course. This wasn't an issue I figured out I could get the same feel going a different route.

Mile 8: 5:56 Starting the MP miles on a flat course. Felt okay but could have felt easier.

Mile 9: 5:56 Same as above, seems like my effort was harder than it should have been.

Mile 10: 5:48 Still trying to find a groove and it seemed I hit another gear, but again not as easy as I want.

Mile 11 5:43 Still on a flat course and the effort again seemed hard, but I was using positive thinking trying to keep my mind and thoughts positive.

Mile 12 6:14 I thought I hit 5 MP miles but recognized this was the 5 mp mile so I had to pick it up for the last 800m's of this mile. How foolish can you be.

Mile 13 6:19 Cool-down mile. I know running at this pace really isn't the best cool down mile but it felt so easy with little effort.

I guess this was a decent run... I wish my MP miles felt easier. But I need to believe in myself next week and go into the race with a positive outlook and know I will perform well. Being negative only shoots your confidence down. I'll make Fast Running Blogs look good.

I'm excited that the weather this week has allowed me to get some faster training runs in so that a bonus for future races.

8.2 miles today at an overall 6:43 pace 55:19 in Boise, Idaho. Back to the soccer field.... I ran the run 4 miles from our hotel and then 4 miles back.  The 4 miles going was a slight uphill and the 4 miles back was downhill.  I ran on  South Cole Rd.  and West Overland by the interstate.  The run was at a very easy pace nothing hard.

Well so far my daughter's team lost both soccer games where it just unbelievable because they had a chance to win them both very easy.  They missed open goal shots.  They shot high.  They shot goals off the post.  They lost both games by one goal.  Now we have one more game tomorrow at 8am then it's a 3 hour trip back home.

I took the day off today which is normal.  My family and I drove back from Boise today after my daughter won her soccer game today at 8am.  We shopped around Boise for a while, then left and got home a little after 4pm.  It's a little over 3 hours from Boise to Pocatello.  Then we went and ate at a Mexican Restaurant, and I ate a ton.  Probably gaining 5 pounds this weekend, because the day before we ate at Chuck Rama.  But this week I will cut back on the food intake with the taper.  I would like to go into the Marathon under 150.  Anyway, it was a fun weekend with the family, other than I was tired and a little grumpy on the way home.

This morning was beautiful and I was overdressed. I really should have put some shorts on rather than tights. I got 8 hours of sleep last night and felt really fresh waking up.

I ran 9.1 miles at an overall 6:57 easy pace in 1:03. I'll run between 30-35 miles this week, and form roll a lot to get ready for SLC on Saturday.

I didn't get as much sleep as I would have liked last night, but it was my fault.  My wife and I got new Blackberry Smartphones yesterday, because our current cell phones were no longer covered under insurance, and our two year contact at Alltel was expiring.  We purchased the Blackberry 8830 world edition.  Last night I was trying to configure my wife's bluetooth headset up to it and I stayed up late doing so.  My wireless headset paired up fine (different brand of headset than my wife's). Anyway, staying up till 11:30pm only allowed me a little over 6 hours of sleep.

 The weather this morning was 35 degrees with a 20mph wind.  The wind here just will not let up.  According to the weather were suppose to get 50mph wind gusts this afternoon.  SLC is also getting the wind too.

I decided to do two MP miles on the downhill and flat part of the course I was running this morning.  First I had to go up the standard Satterfield hill that I run once a week.  The beginning splits were (7:28, 7:02, 7:02, 7:00, 7:12, 6:55).  This hill makes my quads burn every time once I get to the top. Then the MP miles

Mile 7:  5:41 - All downhill the effort was easy even with the headwind, but it was downhill and it was only one mile.  But it felt good.

Mile 8: 5:38  - Mostly flat and downhill.  If felt pretty comfortable pushing on the flat to keep the average..

 Here's the challenge I have for myself this weekend, can I average below a 6 minute mile pace for the whole 26.2?  Can I consistently hit the mile targets that Adam as set for us, and keep up?  I do feel pressure, but that's good, sometimes you need pressure to see if your capable of working out of a tense situation.

 The next three days I'm going to take it easy and only run around 5 each day, and maybe even take the dog out with me. 


 

This morning it snowed just a bit, but nothing to affect the run. The temperature was 25 degrees, and it felt on the chilly side with the wind blowing.   I took a 30 minute nap yesterday and also got over 8 hours of sleep so I felt really good.

The run this morning I started off with a 3 mile warm-up (7:16, 6:53, 6:52) then I decided to do  6 x 200m strides with a 100m slow down (the slow down was around a 6 minute pace range).  The strides I average between a 5:20 and 5:35 pace.  The finally two miles doing these strides made the mile pace overall at (6:14, 5:48)

7 hours of sleep last night, but not very good sleep.  Woke up kind of tired.  The weather was sunny and the temperature was 30 degrees, and it made it a great morning for an easy run.  I ran 5.5 at an easy 7:00 pace in 38:39 in the shoes that I'll be running the marathon in (Asics Banditos racers, these are the replacement for the discontinued Asics Ohana racers).  The 7 minute pace felt like about a 10 minute pace.  I didn't push much effort into the run.

 I liked at the weather for SLC for Saturday's marathon and it showed a low of 40 with the high of 71 degrees, but also with high winds.
 

Over 8 hours of sleep last night and that felt excellent.  I felt full of energy this morning, and ready to go. The temperature was 40 degrees this morning, but with a 20+ mph wind. The wind made it difficult at times with some major gusts exploding in your face. I ran 4.6 miles at a 6:55 pace in 31.54 minutes.  I ran a few 100m strides mixed in the run, just to get the fast twitch muscles flowing.  Last two miles I ran (6:37, 6:32).

I hope the wind doesn't occur tomorrow for the SLC marathon, but if it does that's okay too.  Adam, Sasha, Dave and I will just have to deal with it.

Going into the Salt Lake Marathon I really was not sure how I would do since I decided to run the full rather than the half. I really wanted to run with Adam Wende (which he did awesome), and that's why I changed my decision. I wanted to really get the training in for the Ogden marathon and prepare big for it. I didn't think I was totally ready to run the Salt Lake Marathon as I would like to be, but I thought that I had some good weeks of training from the Achilles issue. I thought my fitness and health was good going into the marathon, and this could be a good tune-up for the Ogden marathon. First marathon of the year, and this would tell where I was at.

First off Barry (on the blog) and I traveled to Salt Lake City, and we settled our room at the Marriott City Center Hotel. Then we went to the Expo at the Convention Center and picked up our race packets. We talked with Sasha for a bit, and he gave Barry some wonderful advice for the race. It's always great to talk with Sasha his knowledge and course detail is amazing, and he's a great person to be around. Then I met Adam Wende there and talk with him for a bit as he picked up his race packet.

Barry and I left for the Salt Lake Running Store, because I needed to purchase some Injinji toe socks. My other pair had a hole in them and their the only kind of socks that I've found that work for me in long distance runs. The other types cause one of my toes to bleed.

Race Details:

Going into this race I was thinking that 2:40 would be a good goal, but once I knew we were running in a headwind I was doubtful. The first few miles the wind wasn't bad, but I think it was about at my 5 when the wind started really becoming a devil.

Mile 1 - 5:49 Felt really good running with Adam, and was really holding back to not explode out of the gate. Sasha and Dave were up ahead of us too.

Mile 2 - 6:01 Still felt good and holding back, because I knew that I would really need to save some strength for the tough wind miles.

Mile 3 - 6:08 Here's where I started falling back from Adam at mile 3. I dropped the aid station water and it slowed me down because I slowed down to grab another one. I wanted to make sure I was hydrated well.

Mile 4 - 5:29 Good downhill mile, and it felt comfortable and easy.

Mile 5 - 5:37 I really should have picked up the pace here and the mile before, because I the wind that would pick-up from miles 6 -14.

Mile 6 - 6:10 Wind was starting to be a issue and made you push harder, but I felt good here.

Mile 7 - 6:21 Felt decent should again have pushed harder, but I think in the back of my mind I knew a hill was coming up, and I would need to push more there. But it was a foolish mistake being so early in the run.

Mile 8 - 6:27 Starting to ascend upward and the three ladies that chicked me were drafting on me at this point. I was really feeling good and feeling comfortable even though the mile was slower.

Mile 9 - 6:30 I don't know why this was so slow, but lost time in this mile.

Mile 10 - 6:09 I started pushing more into the wind to get a decent pace, but it was so strong. I really should have pushed harder here. Took my first Gel at this point, and I think looking back at the race I should have maybe taken one sooner.

Mile 11 - 6:11 Still maintain a decent pace in the wind, this mile I should have tried to make up more time, but the wind was still very strong.

Mile 12 - 6:22 Wind gusts seems to really pickup on this mile, and it was starting to make my pace inconsistent per mile.

Mile 13 - 6:47 I came in on the half way point right on 1:21:00, and I thought I should be able to easily negative split the second half (wishful thinking). Why so slow... I do remember some heavy wind gusts, because I was still feeling great at this point too.

The next four miles I felt comfortable and things were feeling good, and I took another gel at mile 16.
(6:04 , 5:51, 6:05, 6:07)

Up to this point I was feeling good, but than things started changing. I started feeling the need to do a brown code at mile 18, which slowed me down a bit because of the discomfort, and put negative thoughts in my head. One: I didn't want to lose time, Two: if I stopped how would my legs feel starting again, and trying to get back into a nice flow. I slowed down a bit because of this issue from miles 18 -20 (6:21, 6:21, 6:22). I started to pray and ask the Lord what I should do, stop or just keep pushing through.

Amazingly, after mile 20 the pain went away and I was fine, but my pace was slower and I started feeling fatigued. I don't know if it was the early miles from the wind that started being a factor or the fact that I slowed down, because I needed to brown code.

Mile 21 - 6:39 Terrible just shoot me.  The fatigue factor was beginning to settle in.

Mile 22 - 6:36 Where's the bullets I'll shoot myself.   I was hoping I could drop the last  four miles at least under  6:30 pace.  I remember thinking about this at this point in the race.  This would at least give me a shot at 2:44.

Mile 23 - 6:47 Started weaving in and out of half marathoner's traffic.

The last three miles I really lost my focus and just wanted to finish. I really should have thought more positive here because I really believe your training should come out and help you finish strong. (6:51, 6:58, 6:58).

Maybe I made the mistake of only taking two gels, because after the stomach issues from miles 18 to 20 I thought it might not be the best thing to take another gel. I did drink plenty of water through the course and didn't feel any dehydration. I think you can second guess a lot of things, why didn't you do this or that. I believe the wind took its toll on me early trying to fight through it, and showed the result towards the last few miles.

It is a little upsetting when you have high expectations, but mother nature has it's own plan. But no excuses... I could have been stronger and more positive in the later miles, and that's a big key to success.

I do feel good going into Ogden as long as I take it easy the next three weeks, and have fun and be confident I should do well. I really need to decide how to prepare for Ogden so close. This week of course will be recovery miles and just taking it easy. Not sure what my plan will be for long runs. I know I should at least get one MP long run in even if it's only for 6 miles.

All the splits

Mile 1 - 5:49

Mile 2 - 6:01

Mile 3 - 6:08

Mile 4 - 5:29

Mile 5 - 5:37

Mile 6 - 6:10

Mile 7 - 6:21

Mile 8 - 6:27

Mile 9 - 6:30

Mile 10 - 6:09

Mile 11 - 6:11

Mile 12 - 6:22

Mile 13 - 6:47

Mile 14 - 6:04

Mile 15 - 5:51

Mile 16 - 6:05

Mile 17 - 6:07

Mile 18 - 6:21

Mile 19 - 6:21

Mile 20 - 6:22

Mile 21 - 6:39

mile 22 - 6:36

Mile 23 - 6:47

Mile 24 - 6:51

Mile 25 - 6:58

Mile 26 - 6:58

Good recovery run today, 6.1 miles at a easy 7:12 pace in 44 minutes.  No soreness in the body to speak of.   The temperature was 17 degrees.  I guess spring is not close here yet.

Evening:

Ran 1.3 miles with my wife and kids. 

Another easy run today 8.1 miles at a 7:30 pace.   I got in some good uphill running up Olympus Rd. and the a good downhill stretch running down Booth Rd.   I've been really depressed the last couple days that I should have done better at SLC.  I keep going over and over the last 4 miles of the race that I should have tried to push harder.  But Ogden will be my redemption.

Anyway,  I ran 8.1 miles at a 7:30 pace in exactly 1 hour. 

Rainy morning but the temperature was in the 40's. I ran 8.3 miles at a 7:17 in 1 hour. I was trying to run easy by feel and not pushing the run at all. I ran all over just making the route up as I went. The whole distance was flat.

My inner knee on the right leg has been hurting the last couple of days, and it actually hurt this whole run this morning. I will not run tomorrow not because I'm taking a day off, but my wife is leaving for Boise today and will be gone till Thursday night so I have to be home in the morning. I will not have time the whole day to run. This break is good anyway to give the knee a chance to heal, and if it doesn't feel good on Friday, I won't run Friday either.

One thing to note looking at the marathon on Saturday, when I turned into the last bit on the gateway, I looked at the digital clock display and it was right at 2:44:50 so I thought okay I will be under 2:45 and I picked the pace up, but I could have ran faster than I did, but I thought I had an easy 2:45 something. But when I could see the finish line digital clock from a distance it showed 2:45:58. I sprinted too late and got 2:46:07. Lesson to learn don't ever assume something, but give it all you have at the end.

No running this morning or today.  My wife's in Boise and I will not have a minute in the day to run.  But that will give my knee a chance to heal.   My problem is I would have run today if I didn't have a chance where I couldn't.  I'm the type of person that will run or exercise even if I feel hurt, sick and that's not always smart.  I've always believed that you have to do something everyday, but than there's a point where you can over-train and wear your body down.  I've realized if I want to get the best performance out of Ogden, and using SLC marathon as a good tune-up, than I better make sure my body does get some rest time.  I really don't feel like I just ran a marathon, even on Sunday my body felt good. 

I would like to walk away from a marathon feeling like I can't even walk that I gave everything I had.

I'll do my usual sit-ups and push-ups tonight so I'll do something. 

7 hours of sleep this morning, but I stayed up till midnight looking at the Ogden course and figuring out what pace I need to run each mile. 

This morning the weather was 30 degrees and I thought it was going to rain, but I got lucky.   I finished my run before it even attempted to rain.  My knee wasn't bad I could feel some soreness as I ran. About 85% of the run I ran on gravel, dirt, grass to help the impact.  It really didn't bother me running. But if I start running tomorrow and it hurts than I won't run Saturday or Sunday and give it a good rest so I can get ready for Ogden.  I ran at an easy pace not caring what it was, and that's how it should be after last weeks marathon.  I need to take it easy and then build back up next week.   .

 I ran 10.3 miles at an overall 7:24 pace in 1:16.  Busy day tomorrow.
 

Nice day today!  Sunny and warm and no wind!  I got almost 9 hours of sleep last night which was excellent.  I did a lot of uphill stretches in my run, because I feel I really need to work on my uphill running.  I feel thats a little bit of a weakness for me even though I do a lot of it already, but not in continuous miles.  Going up like a 1000 feet in 4 miles would be a good training session.  Which I haven't done.  Anyway, I ran 14 miles at an easy 7:03 pace in 1:38.  I took it very easy.  I wanted to be on my feet for a long time in this run and the miles didn't matter to me today.

 

Nice morning and I definitely over-dressed.  The weather is starting to show signs that it might get out of this cold pattern.  Other than were suppose have a storm that's moving in sometime this week.

 I ran an uneventful 11.2 miles in an easy 7:08 pace in 1:20.  I did my Satterfield hill loop to get more downhill and uphill training in.  I took it way easy on the downhill, because I wanted nothing fast today, and I'm trying to take Sasha's advice and not destroy my nervous system every day leading up to the Ogden marathon  I noticed that my heart rate felt like it was higher running up the hill this morning than it has in the past.   I didn't sleep as well last night, and I drank a lot of caffeine yesterday so that could be the result of a higher heart rate.   My knee is still bothering me so I'm not going to do a double run today, and just ice my knee and give it rest.  At this point I can't really do any hard training that's going to benefit me for the Ogden Marathon.  Besides I ran a marathon  9 days ago, and I just need to maintain my fitness.
 

Very warm morning again. I looked outside and at first it was cloudy so I wear tights, but could have ran in shorts. Oh well, I guess I sweat a little more and burn more calories. I only got a little over 5 hours sleep last night, because I was rebuilding my wife's laptop.

When I woke up this morning I felt drained, and never walked out the door for the run until 7:10am. I was so slow getting ready this morning. But in amazement I really didn't feel tired in the run and had a lot of energy. I picked the pace up a little bit more today to try to get home sooner, because of leaving so late. I ran 10 miles at an overall 6:57 pace in 1:09. I 'm still trying to not do anything fast yet just nice and easy. My knee is still bothering me but it wasn't too bad today. I'm not sure what's wrong with it.

Evening:

Ran an easy 5.2 miles at a overall 7:20 in 38:12 minutes in a light rain. My knee still hurts when I run but it's not an unbearable pain. Should I take a couple days off or just keep running easy and work through it? It hurts the worst going up and down stairs. I had to keep myself from increasing the speed. It seems on night runs my legs want to fly, so this is great training to try to keep an easy pace. This is something I need to work on.

This morning the weather was back to cold and 30mph winds.  My knee is still bothering me on the run today.  I ran an easy 10.1 miles at an overall pace 7:12 in 1:12.  I'm thinking about taking tomorrow off or only running like 4 miles to let the knee rest.

Lunch:
I had no choice but to run on my lunch.  I had to drop my car off to the brake shop this morning and my wife took me to work so that left me without a car.  I had our brakes looked at two weeks ago, " I don't want to mention names no sense giving a place a bad name", and the place I went to said I had 40% left and could go another 20,000 miles on them.

Our front wheel started squealing yesterday so I figured it  might be break dust or metal to metal. I was mad thinking that the other place didn't have their eyes opened when they checked them.  Well, I was right metal to metal and it will cost $179.00.  Anyway, without a car, and my wife couldn't get away I ran to the brake shop only 2 miles.

I'm going to contain myself and put myself in a bubble and not run the rest of the day.  That would look pretty funny at work.