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

Did 400 sit-ups and 200 push-ups tonight, and still resting the achilles.   I'll have acupuncture done tomorrow and really don't know what to expect.

This morning at the gym I did 7.1 miles on the Arc Trainer doing the hill interval program which I modified. I set the incline to 20% and the downhill (well if you call it a downhill) was set at 2% to 4%. If I run Del Sol my legs are uphill and downhill so since I didn't run to rest the achilles I simulated this on the Arc Trainer. I did the Arc Trainer for 1 hour and 5 minutes. It was a good workout. The resistance was set to 10 which wasn't too difficult.

What I really heard that works to heal the Achilles is massage, heat, ultrasound.

 PM

40 one handed push-ups total of 100 push-ups.

400 sit-ups. 

Didn't get the acupuncture done tonight instead just did an adjustment at the chiropractor. 
 

I couldn't stand it any longer not to run. I went to the gym this morning intending on running 3 miles on the Treadmill and I ended up running 7.3 miles but nothing under a 7:30 pace.  I ran most of the run at a 7:50 to 7:40 pace.  The last two miles I ran at a 2% grade.  My achilles felt good but it's still early in the day.  I'll give an update later on with the  condition of the achilles.

This morning I wanted to press the pace (not to any major extreme) since I haven't ran at a marathon pace or tempo pace or even LT pace in three weeks. I really wanted to test my achilles on some faster miles. I started out at a 7:10 and that felt good, then picked it up more 6:40 that felt very comfortable. I was trying to monitoring my achilles at this point to get a sense if everything was all a go to lower the pace even more. The next mile was 6:22 and my legs felt really fresh then I dropped the last two miles to 6:08, and 5:44. Now the 5:44 the last bit took a lot more effort, but all in all a good run. The achilles seem fine I did feel it a little and some after, but that's not bad. It's not a 100% by any means but good enough to try and have fun in Del Sol and that's what it's all about.

Most of the route was flat with some hills, but nothing extreme. This morning when I started running it was 23 degrees with a 7 mph wind.

 Lunch Update:

Do have some crackling in my achilles a bit doesn't seem to hurt though.  I really stretched it out good.  I'll just take it easy till the race Friday.  I'm going to do sit-ups and push-ups in my office today just to get some sort of exercise this afternoon.

This morning Jeff, Steve, and I made it to Provo, (not to far for Steve).  We stayed at Ted's house after the short trip here.  This morning Ted, Josse, Steve, Jeff and I ran 6.11 miles in 48.11 minutes around the BYU campus and around Ted's neighborhood.  Very fun and easy.

Josse thanks for coming and it was nice meeting you> 

Well Del Sol Relay has come and gone and now it’s time to tell the excitement that was experienced.

Going into the Del Sol about two months away when I was selected to go I was pumped up
and wanted to perform my best. Leading up to the event for the last three weeks I was dealing with Achilles Tendonitis and it affected my training which was frustrating because I was putting in some good mileage before that. I could only pretty-much do cross-training
other than a couple runs a week for the last two weeks. I felt coming into the event that I wasn't where I needed to be and my
fitness would be an issue. I really didn’t want to let the team down, and was going to run hard even if my leg fell off. Well, the aftermath of the relay I thought I did okay, but definitely
felt I could have improved if I was totally healthy. The achilles really didn't bother me too much so I was happy about making it through the event with no issues only some tightness in the achilles and crackling.

James W. and Lybi allowed Ted, Steve, Jeff, Sasha, and Walter and I to stay at their house when we got to Mesa Arizona. They
were like family. Both of them were wonderful always caring about our needs, and what
they could do for us to make us comfortable. The food they prepared was wonderful.
James W. sorry I didn't drink the regular Vault soda.

Before we got to James and Lybi's house Ted, Steve, Walter and I ran a 4 mile warm-up, and that felt good.

Leg 9 - 41.21 Minutes 6:09 Pace 6.74 Miles

I was very anxious to get started on this Leg right when I saw Ted head my way to the exchange. I started out feeling good, although I had a decent head
wind (10 to 15mph) so I knew I was in for an interesting fun run. The first mile I did a 5:27 on a flat but gradual uphill.
Then the next mile 5:36 again flat with a slight gradual uphill. Okay here's where on knew it would be tough, the last 4 miles were a continuous gradual uphill
to the end (314 gain), in some pretty nasty wind. Normally this would be great with no wind, but running in the pitch black made it interesting when you didn’t know what pace you where running. At least being pitch black made it so I couldn't see the gradual incline. Mile 3 James W. yelled from the van cheering me on (what a great guy) I finished this mile at 6:14. I knew
with the wind and gradual uphill and not changing directions that the next three miles I just wanted to be under 6:30 at least. Mile four - 6:25, Mile five - 6:29, Mile six I really felt like I was running good but I couldn't believe I was only running near a 6:25 to 6:30 pace very disappointing. I finished Mile six at a 6:31 and the last .72 I did
4:37 trying to give everything I had. Average pace was 6:09 according to the garmin which is what my projected pace needed to be at. I did past five runner in the leg, and a few were scared coming up behind them fast in the Arizona pitch black desert. The Temperature around this time was in the 50’s so it felt good.

That was the excitement for leg 1 of the relay, and two more to go. I did a 1.5 mile total for warm-up and cool-down.

Leg 21 Time:19:11 Miles: 3.72 Avg: 5:09

My second leg was downhill and in the pitch black dark again at 4:36am. My projected average pace was 5:15 per mile. I started out just feeling the course and letting my quads push towards the downhill. I did the first mile in 5:15, and it felt really comfortable so my plan was to finish the last 2 miles and whatever left faster. I did mile 2 at 5:07 flying by runners as I went. Then came mile 3 at 5:08 again passing more runners. I think I passed a total of 10 runners. The last .72 I did at 3:39 and I felt in control the whole way. I didn't feel bad at all afterwards, but I knew going into the third run it would get hot and it was another downhill so I was glad I didn't feel wiped out or anything. In fact I even helped Steve Ashbaker warm-up for his next leg.

I was happy to beat the projected 5:15 pace and average a 5:09 pace. I also set a new 5k PR of around 16:05, Paul or someone can do the math, but this is off the top of my head looking at the time. This PR was definitely set on an aided course.

I did a total of 1.5 miles of warm-up and cool-down.

I discuss more on the third run (leg 33) later, but leaving you hanging it was interesting and definitely very hot.

Leg 33 Time: 16:28 Miles: 3.03 Avg: 5:26

By the time it was my turn to run my third leg I was tired. I didn’t get any sleep all night like everyone else. You shut your eyes but you can’t really sleep because of the atmosphere around you, and still the adrenaline inside from the last run. I needed caffeine but I didn’t have any, and when I tried drinking Gatorade or eating something It would go straight through me, and I would have to run to the bathroom (at least I didn’t vomit).

Before the third leg Adam RW had to explain to the volunteer’s how the exchanged worked, because they were unsure. They were talking to me about how they needed to quit smoking and get back into shape, and Sasha standing right there said you need to quit smoking as direct as you can get. That was so funny I wanted to laugh.

The location of this leg was at Apache Junction, Pinal, Arizona and the traffic was horrible. It was hot with a headwind, but it was all downhill with some uphill at the end. The volunteer mentioned that one of the city cops wanted the exchange moved somewhere else, but he finally gave in and let it be there. The cop told the volunteer’s that if any runner was caught running through a red light they would get a ticket. This was nice since I had three traffic lights ahead of me.

On the start of the first mile I could feel the heat but I pushed on downward and did the first mile in 5:19. I was hot and really needed some water and should have had more fluid in my body on this leg, which is a very good learning experience for me when I do this again. The second mile I did in 5:22. I was trying to stay in around this pace and I accomplished that. Now the third mile made me mad, because I had to slow down, because the traffic light was red and this big truck with a trailer turned right in front of me, then later down the third mile I had to weave out of traffic which slowed me down again (which I got honked at but I wasn’t going to stop) and it was hard to get started back up and I felt fatigued at this point. This really affected my time in this mile. Then with about .3 left in the final mile to the exchange there was a little uphill over an overpass and I ran as hard as I could up it and down it. James W, said I looked like I was cruising. I bet I was running in the 4 minute mile range, but because of the earlier issues it wasn’t a very good mile 5:37 pace.  But I definitely did have some fatigue in this leg so it's good to learn to know what to change next time. 

One thing I learned about the third leg is I need to fuel up a little more, and that would have helped. But the legs where exciting! I want to thank everyone involved, especially James W. because of the driving he did, and staying up all night.