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

Last night I had a 101 fever and stuffy nose and cough.  I've been taking everything possible to get better before next week.  I woke up this morning not feeling great, but I went out and ran 5 miles anyway.  I ran sort of a 4 mile ladder run and then a cool-down mile.   (6:36,6:28,6:04, and 6:01).  Hopefully I can get over this sickness.  Tomorrow depending on how I feel I was going to do a 12 mile run  and more of a downhill course.
 

Ran my final long run before next weeks marathon.  13.02 in 6:29 in 1:24.  The first few miles were down  hill, and I ran a little faster than I was planning on, but that's okay, good confidence builder. I ran a 5 mile tempo in the middle of the long run (6:01, 5:58, 6:11, 6:07, and 6:10).  I also did a 500ft hill that was over a 1 mile in this run.. I was trying to get a combination of down  and up hill.  The run felt good with little effort.  Now it's time to reserve a Hotel in Rexburg.

Thanks Ted for your previous comments.  I feel ready. 

Today was my wedding anniversary. I've been married for 13 years. I took my wife to a movie and to Red Lobster and just enjoyed the day with her. I ate like a horse at Red Lobster and probably gained three pounds.

Then my wife and I went for a 2 mile walk alone. It was great.

Today run was just a slow run with a couple of faster miles but right above Marathon pace.  I felt kind of weak and tired today.  Probably because of all the food I ate yesterday at Red Lobster.  I ran the first 3.5 miles with the dog.  He was testing my patience today by trying to chase after birds. 

 Total 6.3 mile at a 7:05 47 minutes.  I did 4 x 100 strides towards the end of the run.  The morning was beautiful and the temperature was great at 48 degrees.  If I wasn't taping I would have ran longer.

 

I ran 7.1 miles today with 3 being MP miles.  I feel a little better today.  My sore throat and fever have finally left.  Now I just need to get rid of this coughing and stuffy nose.  Today I have a doctor's appointment, because I've had this lump on my shoulder blade that as doubled in size the last two weeks. I first thought it was a pimple but I'm not sure, it been hurting when I turn my neck and move my shoulder.  It's also starting to bother me when I run.  I'm hoping it's like an in-grow pimple.  I never mentioned it because I thought it would go away, but now it's spread a little and is hard around the outside.  But I have faith in God and his healing power.

Anyway back to running,  for Teton I'm just shooting for a personal best, the only competition is trying to beat my conservative mind and get  under or  get around 2:5?.
 

My doctor's appointment yesterday to check the lump/bump on my shoulder went well. It's an infection, but he didn't want to cut it open because of the size and swelling so the doctor put me on an antibiotic for 10 days to cut the swelling down. Either this will remove the infection completely, or reduce the infection. Then the doctor can proceed and cut it out and drain the infection and bandage it up. The infection was caused from an in-grow pimple/zit (those wonderful bumps we didn't like as teenagers), and he said it still might grow it's ugly head.

The first thing he told me and he tells all his patients, "to relief their minds", that it's not cancer, nor did I think it was either. I thought it was something simple which it is, but it's sure irritating my neck, shoulder and hurts when I run. It needs to go away quick.

Thank you for your prayers. This site is great for learning about other running experiences and helpful advice, but you can also feel the strong spiritual aspect behind this site.

Okay running today I had to run on the tortured treadmill because we were experiencing thundershowers when I woke up. I mean it was pouring and blowing hard. I really hate treadmill running. I would rather sit through a boring work section meeting all day than run on a treadmill. But I ran 5.3 miles, and a couple of minutes at a 5:30 pace not too much because of the taper.

I need to at least get in 30 miles this week before the marathon. It really bothers me not being able to run as much with a taper, almost depressing.

One benefit about taking these antibiotics is they should help my cold.  Right now my breathing feels like about 65% when I run because of the sinus and stuffy nose.  I want to go in on Saturday at a 100%.

Today I ran 4.2 easy miles in a light rain.  It's rained continuously for the last 30 hours now.  The temperature was 38 degrees when I started running which I loved.  I'm definitely a cool weather runner.  I don't like the heat which I'm sure most of you don't.  Running performances are definitely better in cooler temperatures.

I'm still not over this cold and stuffy nose I think I'm just going to have to live with it and do the best I can for Saturday.  I plan on driving up to Rexburg around noon tomorrow from work.  It's only 70 miles from Pocatello, and I'm staying at Days Inn.  Then I'll find a place for dinner and just relax for the rest of the night.  I'm going alone, because my wife Saturday is working at our church booth at the park for family fun day selling hamburgers and hotdogs etc.  This is a fun raiser to help build our new church.  Then my oldest daughter is running the 5k  Pocatello Heart Beat and Sole city race on Saturday.  My youngest just wants to walk the 5k race with my mom.  I actually won the 10k portion of this race last year, it's a brutal course.  You really have to be prepared for the uphill.  The last two miles of the course is uphill.  But I had an advantage this is one of the routes I like to run all the time, because you have a major down hill in the beginning than a major up than it repeats this pattern for the rest of the course, so it makes a good training course.

3  easy miles today.   I will head to Rexburg around noon today.  Will see how things go on Saturday.

Today I ran the Teton Dam Marathon and it was a race to remember for bad reasons. Going into a race you of course want to feel like your fitness feels good and your health is good. Unfortunately, in this one I couldn't get over my cold and sinus issues. More on that later. I first arrived in Rexburg, and picked up my race pack and toured the city. I've actually never been here before, and the funny thing is I only live 70 miles away. The city is very easy to get around, and I found where I needed to be on Saturday morning. I went to the potato bake dinner the night before on the free marathon meal which I've never eaten a potato before a marathon. I met a lot of nice marathoner's.

Race morning I woke up with a terrible headache, sinus drainage, and coughing, which I thought my antibiotics would take care of, well not a chance. I met Clyde and Jeff at the pick up area, and what great guys they are and incredible runners I hope to be at their running level someday.

As we started the race I really felt like I was in a groove except I had a hard time breathing, because it seemed like I was coughing every minute the whole way. The first half I finished in 1:22 something and I really felt good other than the coughing. But on mile 16 my stomach felt awful really hurting bad, because I needed to go to the bathroom bad. I asked the aid station when was the next porta putty and they said "we don't know, very encouraging (they also didn't hand me water correctly at two aid station in a row, where I didn't drink any water for, 4 miles . Well I started the hills on mile 16 and my stomach felt terrible. Half way in mile 18 I went off course and ran behind this grain facility and had to "Brown Code". I looked at my watch to see how much time I wasted doing this and it ended up being close to 3 minutes ( you can see that below in the pacing chart). The worst part I had to find some grass and you can guess the rest. I felt really great after this except the course elevation chart online is inaccurate and there's more hills than the map details. Clyde mentions this too in his race report. This was disappointing when your try to figure your pacing strategy. I started cruising down mile 20 and turned the corner and there was another hill that I wasn't excepting. It slowed me down and the rolling hills began.

Then after mile 21 I developed a really bad side stitch that didn't go away until the end of the race. Every time I would try to speed up it would just kill and I had to slow down and I had to alter my stride (this has never happened to me before and the only thing I can contribute it to is probably all the coughing I did just jolting my insides so much). The last mile my side hurt so bad I felt like I was crawling, and finally the finish (2:59:32).

I'm really disappointed how the second half went, and I can only contribute it to I wasn't feeling well enough to run this race, and my immune system broke down. After the race I ran to the restroom six times with a stomach ache and did a "code brown" each time. My stomach was killing. Finally about an hour and a half later there was nothing left in my body to go to the bathroom. I drank plenty of water during the race... I just think my immune system broke down. But no excuse I should have toughed it out and tried to run hard in the ending miles.

I talked with both Clyde and Jeff after the race, and stayed to support them getting their medals.

I don't know when I will run yet, but I know going into this marathon I really wasn't that focused on what I wanted to achieve with everything going on in my personal life. But 2:50 would have been nice, but it just wasn't there today.

I think I will do Des New Marathon on July 24. The downhill isn't really hard on my legs, and I ran this one last year and felt good. Then I will run Pocatello and TOU. But I think I'm going to take three days off to make sure I'm over this cough and my immune system is built back up.

The best part of the trip was meeting Jeff and Clyde they are great individuals and runners. Fast Blogs did a good showing today.

One thing I think I will work on in my running is more tempo miles in my long runs. This race has made me even more dedicated and I would seek any advice to become a better runner. I would also be interested in others diets before the marathon or leading up to it.

No running enjoyed the day with my wife.  We went out and ate at a Chinese buffet and went grocery shopping.

No running today.  I want my immune system to get better before I start running again.  I need to get over this cough and sinus issues.  I coughed all night last night and didn't sleep very well.  I could run but I think a break is better for me right now.

No running today and I'm going through withdraws.  I'm going to have to run tomorrow, because I get depressed when I can't run.  I know the rest is good for my immune system but I feel a lot better and my legs are fine. I will just ease into a nice slow pace tomorrow.

I ran for the first time today since the marathon on Saturday. I was really having bad running withdraws and couldn't wait to get out and run this morning. I could have run the day after the marathon, but I wanted to recovery from my cold and sinuses. The cold and sinus issue is getting better but still there. I ran 7.5 miles today on very fresh legs. I did take it easy, but stepped it up a bit the last three miles (6:59, 6:48, and 6:44).

The first 4 miles I took the dog, and he got loose and at one point I ran 800ms at a 4:51 pace (according to the garmin) on the second mile before I caught him. The rest of the mile I took it way slow, because I didn't want to come back from the rest and run anything real fast today. My overall pace was 7:12. It's amazing how fast you can run when your not focusing on it.

I went to the gym on my lunch hour today and ran 2.6 miles on the treadmill and lifted weights. It's been about a month since I've lifted weights.

Now that I've had time to think about the Teton Marathon I'm really down and disappointed.  I'm so competitive with myself that I want to run another marathon at a chance to get under 2:50.  I feel so dedicated right now.  I'm really trying to figure out what I need to focus more on in my training.  I know the sickness really hurt me over the weekend, and I really do feel I could have ran under 2:50 if things would have been different with my body.

Clyde's name is posted on the http://www.dammarathon.com site. Everyone take a look and congrads! to Clyde again.

Today I ran 4 miles with the dog (average pace 7:09 mile) than 5.2 miles after dropping him off back home.  I ran each mile faster than the previous to end the run (6:55, 6:48, 6:40,6:00). I did the whole run down one of our main streets in the city (Yellowstone St.) that goes over an overpass down Poleline St. then back to my house.  Nobody else out running, but that's pretty much how it is most days.    I think the biggest thing I need to work on right now is having  6:30 pace a mile be a comfortable pace.  Most of the time it is, but sometimes it isn't.  I'm still debating on whether to run the Des News Marathon.

I haven't ran in my new pair of shoes I thought I would try, Asics Ohana racers.  I've heard such wonderful reviews about them that I thought I would give them a try.  It would be nice if this lightweight shoe could become my marathon shoe.  

Right now I rotate between three shoes Avia-lites (I love these shoes), Mizuno Wave Rider 9's, and my marathon shoe Asics DS trainers 12's.  The Avia-lites used to be my marathon shoe, but they are little bit heavier than the DS trainers 12's.  But I my go back to the Avia-lites, becauese the DS Trainers seem to beat one of my toes. 

I had a chance to run while I was in Billing Montana.  I did sort of a tempo run, but not real all out.  (6:13,6:06,6:00,6:04,6:02,).  I jumped over a snake curled up in a ball that I saw at the last moment that was real exciting.  It was kind of nice to run in higher altitudes.  I did this run right before dark and the temperature was nice and cool.  The run felt good not really any soreness from last weeks marathon.  I'm now debating if I want to run Des. News marathon at all or save my legs for Pocatello and Logan. 

I wouldn't be able to do any running Saturday or Sunday because of the soccer tournament, so I wanted to make this somewhat a harder run.  I'm trying to keep my runs below the 6:30 avg. per mile just to keep the intensity going.

No running Soccer Tournament all day in Montana.

No Running... Soccer Tournament, and headed back home on our 6-7 hour trip.  We arrived back in Pocatello at 10pm.  I was kind of sore from all the driving.

I ran this morning for 8.2 miles at a 6:52 pace.  Nothing really special...  I did take the dog for the first 4.5 miles and we average under 7 per mile.  I wanted to run at a faster pace so I tried to stay under 7 minute miles with the dog.  Only one small hill in this run which was an overpass.

I was sore when I first got up this morning from all the driving from the day before, but once I got going I was fine.  Now I need to get my focus back and focus on what races I want to do this summer and the training.  No more Soccer trips,  now were moving into fast pitch softball for my daughter which starts tonight.  I believe none of these games are out of town.
 

Morning ran 5.5 with the dog.  He's really getting into this running, and can't wait till I wake up in the mornings.  He gets all excited and wants to go every morning.  I wanted the rest of the run to be finished under the 7 minute mile guy and I did it.  I  averaged 6:58 per mile.  Total miles 9.  I do still have a little bit of soreness on the inside of my thigh from the marathon, but nothing that's affecting my running.

Lunch: 5.3 miles at a 6:18 pace.  Each mile I dropped the pace until the last mile and did a cool down  (6:39, 6:34, 6:12, 5:37, and 6:26).  This was a very hilly course and my effort felt fairly easy in 82 degrees which surprised me.  I ran with my new shoes the Ohana Asics Racers for the first time and I love them.  They fit awesome and really make me feel light on my feet.  I still haven't decided if I'm going to run the Des. News marathon or not.

Easy run today. I ran 8 miles with the dog and 2.8 miles on my own. I wanted to run slower today, and I knew if I took the dog longer today I wouldn't change my mind and try a faster pace. Very hilly course I ran today. I call it the Satterfield loop.

Lunch I ran 1.5 miles at the gym and did some strength lifting on my upper body.

 Next week I need to get back to the track and do some 400's and 800's.  I took a couple weeks off, because of the marathon.  I feel I can run my next marathon lower than 2:50.  I just need to focus and train harder.

Today was one of those runs where I didn't have a clue what I was going to do. I was real tired when I woke up, because of the late nights the last two days. I was trying to get stuff done around the house after my daughter's softball games. Then being gone all weekend didn't help so I had to caught up on the yard work. My life always feels so busy, but that happens when you have kids.

I didn't want to wake up this morning, but I knew I had to run, because I wouldn't be able to get any running done on my lunch hour or after work.I ran the first three miles with the dog (7:21, 6:59, 6:48) then dropped him back home and did a whatever run. (6:39, 6:27, 6:11, 6:08, 6:04, 6:06, and 6:38) Total run 10.3 miles at a 6:33 pace in 1:07. I would consider this a mini tempo run. I was tired today so I just decided to make the run up as I ran. I mostly ran on rolling small hills. The temperature was around 55 degrees

I really have a strong desire to start running more consistently in the 5 minute mile range. I know this will just take me stepping up and running faster. To get faster you have to run fast.

Tomorrow will be an easy run, than Saturday I plan on running a portion of the Pocatello Marathon course probably 14 miles...

 Ran a little tonight to make 11 miles for the day.
 

Very hilly run the first 4 miles were uphill totaling an ascent of 400 ft reaching American Road. I ran 11.5 miles at a 7:13 pace in 1:23. I ran this at a very slow pace for a good easy run. Most of the rest of the course was rolling hills except for a mile downhill, which was going back the same way I came from my house.

I think I've convinced myself not to run Des. News Marathon, "even though I want too bad", but this will allow me to train hard for our local Pocatello marathon on September 1st. Then I will run TOU on September 15th. Hard decisions to make on which events to run. I still think I can run hard in TOU two weeks later. I did this last year two weeks apart, and I was actually faster at TOU.

Question:  Do you feel you get better results doing double runs a day vs.  one long run.  For example, running 12 miles one time, or a double run morning 8 miles, lunch/evening 6 miles.  I'm curious if any have seen an improvement either way.

Morning:  I ran the Pocatello Marathon course today, 14.5 miles at an overall 6:38 pace.  It starts on Crestview Rd.  and about 5400 ft is the altitude.  I ran the first 7 miles at marathon pace and I really wasn't trying to stay at this pace, because it was more really of an anaerobic run today.   The effort was real easy so that's promising (6::29, 6:25, 6:24, 6:34,6;:33,6:30,6:34). 

Lunch ran 4.1 miles with the dog later at a 7:23 pace.  This run felt  good even after the long run this morning.  The double runs really seems to boost my performance overall, and the second run of the day I seemed to already feel ready to run with really no warm-up.

I ran 4.4 with the dog at a 7:30 pace this morning.  Then I dropped him back home and finished the run as a 3/1 (7:07, 6:55, 6:46, 6:36, 6:14).  I didn't push too hard because I want to do 400's tomorrow, and still being only a little over two weeks from my last marathon an easy run is a good choice for today.  

 
I kind of have soreness near my groin or inner thigh, which would be the adductor muscles.  I think it started bothering me a week after the last marathon.  I can feel the soreness when I run and a little after each run, and not sure what to do since I've never had this soreness before.  I thought maybe massage therapy would be a good idea?  It doesn't affect my running in anyway, but I can just feel the soreness when I run.

12.3 miles overall pace 6:34,  in 1:19 (I didn't stop the whole time, even though it was a funny 3 different types of runs into one). 

Today I did a warm-up with the dog for 4.3 miles around a 7:19 pace. Then I ran to the track and did 9 x 400's with 200's jog in between each one.

The times are not very good, but I didn't really push as hard as I could have. Sometimes running these by myself is hard, because you don't stay focused. I haven't done any 400's for probably 5 weeks so I was just shooting around the 1:20 to 1:25 mark. I really should have tried to press harder instead of being lazy.

1. 1:19, 2.1:23 , 3. 1:26, 4. 1:18, 5. 1:23, 6.1:23, 7. 1:26, 8. 1:25, 9. 1:20

One thing I noticed is the effort felt harder than it should have been, but I guess not doing these for sometime will make it seem more of an effort. I did run some tempo miles after this (6:08, 6:23, 6:17, 6:05) and a cool down 6:35. I didn't have a goal for the tempo miles I really was just floating along. I will do another tempo run Thursday. 

The Pocatello Marathon is 11 weeks away, and my wife and 11 year old daughter are going to run the 10k in this event, while my other daughter (8 years old ) is going to run the 5k. I'm going to start to train with my 8 year old in the evenings, and my 11 year old is going to train with my wife. It should be very exciting.

This morning I ran 6 miles with the dog at an easy pace 7:20, then I did three on my own around a 6:50 pace. I wanted to beat the 7 mile guy for the last three. The run wasn't too bad most of it I did on the highway. I almost thought about doing the last three miles as a mini tempo, but I changed my mind. I still have a little bit of soreness around my inner left thigh. I'm hoping that will go away. My dog freaked out when we ran past a horse. I think it's the first time he's ever seen one. I had to get control of him and focus him back on the road, but I think he waited the horse for breakfast.

Lunch: 90 degrees outside, but I didn't feel real hot. I ran to Brady Hot Tub place on my lunch hour, because I needed to see if they had some filter covers for our Hot Tub. 2.64 miles 6:52 pace (7:02, 6:48,). I was in the store for 5 minutes then ran back to work but I made the run a little longer and I wanted to run a little faster, but at a comfortable pace. 3.24 miles at a 6:29 pace (6:26, 6:31, and 6:28).

I might have to run some tonight to hit exactly 15 miles for the day.

I ran some tonight to reach todays goal of 15 miles.

Today I was doing a tempo run and it didn't go as well as I envisioned it to be. First off my legs were dead. I don't think I had enough glycogen stored in my body. I didn't eat very good yesterday. Last night for dinner at 8pm we had homemade hamburgers and baked french fries, not the best meal, but we got home so late from fast pitch softball that this was the easiest thing to cook. Also I never really handle eating dinner so late, because the next day I never feel that great when running. I don't like to eat dinner late, besides it's not real healthy for you.

Anyway I just really didn't feel the tempo run it was hard and it was my own fault for not preparing better. I thing my body was just fatigued from yesterday. Also the wind was very strong so this didn't help at all.

Tempo 6 miles

1. 6:46 (uphill 200ft)
2. 6:13 (should have been more effort, I was already tired)
3. 5:44 ( downhill still felt real hard)
4 5:47 (flat gradual uphill, I was surprised this felt like the best mile)
5: 6:14 (felt dead)
6. 6:46 (felt real dead the run should be over)

Total for the whole run 10.4 miles at a 6:32 pace in 1:08. My legs were dead after the run. I haven't felt like this for sometime. My tempo miles were not consistent just not a very good run.

 Lunch I ran 3 miles and they felt great vs. this morning.  I did these on the treadmill with no grade set. (6:40, 6:20, 6:30).  I also lifted weights and did some strength training on my Adductor muscle to maybe help heal the soreness ( not really much pain or soreness right now).
 

Nice easy run today.   I did 7 with the wonder dog and 3 .3 after.  10.35 miles at a slow 7:29 pace in 1:17.  I really didn't want to get up this morning but I was out the door by 6:50am.  I did the run on a very flat course no hills or downhill at all.  The route was actually around our main streets in Pocatello (Yellowstone st., Alameda st., Poleline st., and Cedar st.)  

Tomorrow I will do a long run again on the Pocatello Marathon course just like last week,  my plan is to really nail this course down.  I think I'm going to run the first 14 miles at a  6:50 to 7:20 pace than run the last 4 miles at a 6:30 pace.  My wife is a trooper because she has to come an d pick me up and then take me back to the top of the mountain (Crestview Rd.) to get my truck.  It's about a 10 to 15 minute drive from my house.

I have to work tonight at 9pm to put several security patches on our Solaris 10 and Linux Red Hat machines so I won't be able to get to bed until 11pm, and my plan is to be up by 5am.  Will see.

I ran the Pocatello Marathon course today for 18.5 miles taking it easy at a overall 7:04 pace.  I did run the first three faster (6:43, 6:39, 6:36) then I met up with a runner who was sticking around a 7:10 to 7 mile pace so I ran with him the next 10 miles which was great conversation.   This was going to be an aerobic run today, but I probably would have ran faster if I didn't meet up with someone so that was good.

He stopped running after 13 miles so I kept going.  At mile 15 I wanted to pick the last three miles up a bit (6:47, 6:31, 6 01).  Overall I felt good.   I feel  I so be able to average a 6:30 for the whole course.   Will see....

After I drove home from the marathon course (20 minutes later) I took the dog out for a run.  4.2 miles at a 7:17 pace.  Very good day of running even though it was hot.