Strength for today and bright hope for tomorrow

Oh boy, a blank training calendar! Started the year out by running to the gym, doing 30 minutes on the elliptical, lifted, stretched, and then ran back home and continued north to 2200 N, out-and-back. Left the watch off, since it's a holiday and all. *** I've added a new blog entry on my webpage about New Years Goals

Did a modified Providence Hill Loop with 6x100m strides in the middle. Covered 8 miles in 55:10 (6:53/mile). Strides were on a slight downhill and I tried to focus on leg turnover and form. Jogged around the block with the dog afterward.

Warmer out today. I ran from work to the gym and hit the paved River Trail on way. I did the Golden Mile each way at brisk pace and collected 5:30 splits (6:03/mile pace). Then I stopped at the gym and did 30 minutes on the elliptical, and then some chin-ups and lunges. Ran back to work via the TOU course and average around 7:00/mile.

Day off *** I've posted a new blog entry on my webpage on "Itchin' to Race"

AM - Went to gym and lifted weights, stretched.

PM - Ran a brisk-pace run, a similar landfill loop to last week, except added a mile by doing an out-and-back to 200N near the landfill. Picked it up for the middle three miles and ran mile splits ranging 6:05-6:15 for that stretch. Added 4x100m strides near end. They felt slow, but I tried to focus on form. Averaged 6:24/mile for the entire 9-mile run.

It's interesting reading people's logs who live along the Wasatch Front. It sounds like they have received much worse weather than Logan all winter. I have only had to shovel snow once, and it was only about 2 inches. Footing and road/sidewalk conditions have been excellent here. It's surprising to me, because usually I'm envious of people running in Salt Lake since Logan tends to get the short end of the weather stick. Oh well, it's been a really bad winter here for skiing, but fantastic for running. I'll take it while I can get it!

Ran a big loop out to Young Ward and around through Icon and back on Golf Course Rd. Ran with Cody, who has one of those fancy Garmin 305 thingys. Our first four mile splits were in the 6:40's and 6:50s, then we turned into a headwind and hit 7:10-7:15 for awhile, and then picked it up to 7:00 pace when we got more favorable wind again. With 1 mile to go we were averaging 7:01/mile, so we picked it up a little to dust the 7-minute guy, who made a guest appearance in Logan. All in all, a pretty good run, and I'm happy to be holding 7:00/mile pace on my longer runs.

53 miles running this week, 55 scheduled for next week.

Ran a modified Providence Hill Loop in 61:10 (6:48/mile pace) with 6x100m strides in the middle. Beautiful sunny day here with no hint of haze in the air. *** I've posted a new blog entry about How fast "Super-Tergat" could run at St George.

AM - easy 8 miles, out to First Dam and back, then 1 mile with dog. Ran close to 7:00/mile pace.

Gorgeous day today, short-sleeves weather. I decided to do my long run of week today, since the weather is forcasted to get very cold soon, plus I am leaving on a yurt trip Saturday morning and probably won't be able to run. I ran a big loop into Millville and up onto the bench, and back through Providence and River Heights and then on into Logan via Center St. It's a hilly route, and I tried to work the hills to start building that "hill strength". Ended up running 6:38/mile pace for the run. I am very pleased with how training is going right now.

Ran to gym and did 30 minutes on elliptical, then some chinups and stretching. Ran back home via the TOU course and grabbed the dog for a half mile, dropped the dog off, and did an out-and-back to the end of the paved river trail, with 6x100m strides in the middle.

Butt-cold this morning with some new snow, so I decided to opt out to the treadmill again. This time I got one farther back for a better TV viewing angle. It was sweet. This treadmill also had a little feature that showed your position if you were running on a track and counted your track laps. So basically it was trying to take your mind off something boring (treadmill) with something equally boring (track). I wasn't too keen on that feature. But I did appreciate the dual fans to keep me cool. After a 5-minute warmup on elliptical, I jumped on the treadmill for 30 minutes at 6:40/mile, then did 10 minutes on the elliptical, and another 30 minutes on the treadmill at 6:40/mile. Cooled down with 10 minutes on the elliptical. Way too much indoor training for me. Hopefully that is all the treadmill I will have to do for the year.

Did some light lifting and stretching afterward. This is the end of my running week, as I will be going on a yurt trip from Saturday through Monday. Hopefully I will get back in time on Monday to get a run in so that I can keep up with the 6 days/week thing. 55 miles total for this week, 60 scheduled for next week. 

Yurt trip. Left Logan at 8AM and hiked up to the Bunchgrass Yurt. Skiied a few shots, and I managed not to kill myself in the trees. I haven't skiied as much this year as I anticipated due to poor snow, but I was pleased with how my running fitness carried over to the uptrek. I felt good and was not very tire from the hike in.

Day two of yurt trip. Epic day. Skiied the toughest shot I've ever attempted, an avalanche chute off of White Pine Knob into the White Pine drainage. Snow conditions were safe, but I was more concerned about cliffs and rocks. We all made it down, although I had my share of spills, but nothing life threatning. When I looked back up at it, I thought it was pretty stupid to ski that, but what's done is done. 

Home sweet yurt 

Twin peaks, Mt Gog and Magog

That's what we skiied down...what was I thinking?!

After that we toured up the White Pine drainage and summitted a ridge that we fondly called "Mt Crustmore", because it ended up be very icy and almost impossible to skin up. It took hours to get everyone up it, and by the time we all made it, it was time to turn around and go back to the yurt because of darkness. Half our group, including myself, did a shot on the face called "Magic Land" which was the destination of the horrendous uptrack. Magic Land was quite magical, and I finally got some good turns in the trees. We then uptracked and skidded down Mt Crustmore and reached the bottom by dark. We then hiked back to the yurt the dark. Very cold. 

Top of Mt Crustmore, entering the realm of MagicLand.

Skiied out of yurt back to vehicle by 1PM. Other than dead truck battery, no mishaps. It was good to take my mind off running for a few days, but now it's back to the grind!

I did a 9-miler as soon as I got home, otherwise I probably wouldn't get around to it. It took me a few miles to get my running legs back, but I managed to average 6:55/mile pace for the run, and felt pretty good aside from sore quads and butt.

Still working the yurt trip out of my legs. Ran 9 miles easy plus 6x100m strides. Very cold.

Waited to run until 2PM to maximize sun and warmth. It wasn't too bad, according to my beard-o-meter (if the beard accumulates ice, it is too cold!). Did a Tinman tempo on the First Dam Run 10k course in 37:55 (6:05/mile pace). It took me a couple miles to get going, but ended up being a decent run. Cooled down afterwards back to the office.

Easy 10 miles on Providence Hill Loop, with 6x100m strides. 7:19/mile pace for entire run. I've had a hard time getting going this week. It might be the cold, but is more likely just a "tired" phase of my training. Or maybe a combination of both.

AM - Went to gym and did 30 minutes on elliptical. Stretched afterward. Weight 130.

PM - Warmer today. Modified Landfill loop from work, with 4x3-minute CV fartlek in middle. I have a new toy to wear, the Timex Bodylink. It is a GPS and HR monitor. I figured out how to use it during the first few minutes of my warmup, and then ran the fartlek. CV pace is supposed to be in between V02Max and LT, a little slower than 10-k pace. My 3:00 intervals were:

5:16/mile pace (HR 164)

5:18/mile pace (HR 171)

5:11/mile pace (HR 173)

5:17/mile pace (HR 175

Average pace for entire run 7:10/mile (skewed due to walking and figuring out toy). Ave HR for run 146. Max for run 181. Fun stuff.

Did 8 miles with Cody, 4 miles on my own, and 1 mile with the dog. Route was all over the place. Pace was around 7:10/mile. Cold, but felt pretty good. Ave HR 140.

60 miles for the week, 60 scheduled for next week.

The snow last night cleared out the air and the inversion has temporarily lifted. Much warmer and less "soupy" today, which made for an enjoyable run. I ran an out-and-back into Millville. I was testing the Adeo for the first time, and it took me awhile to get the gps connected reliably, but eventually it worked and held the satellites. The mile splits I was getting were all the 6:35-6:55 range, and I felt pretty good. Listened to a Toad the Wet Sprocket concert and This American Life podcast through the Adeo. This was my first experience with running with music and it wasn't half bad.

Ave HR 150 

AM - lifted weights

PM - Backward landfill loop; did 3.5-mile Tinman tempo in middle with 6:00 mile splits. Felt good. Did 4x100m strides near the end. 6:18/mile pace for overall run. Average HR 163 for tempo, 145 for non-tempo.

Did a 10-mile out-and-back up to North Logan on 1200 E. 6:50/mile pace for the run. Today is a GREEN burn day in Logan, making for nice running. Ave HR 148.

I'm still looking for 4 more runners for my Relay del Sol team. Entry fee has been comped. We are a "competitive" team, meaning 7:00/mile pace or faster. But the main focus is fun. Interested bloggers feel free to contact me.

Day off. Went to the gym and did 30 minutes on the treadmill. Weighed in a 130 lbs.

Today is a YELLOW burn day in Logan. Please idle your truck for only 30 minutes or less.

CV fartlek run out to Millville and back on TOU course. 4x100m striders during cooldown.

Fartlek was 4x4-minute intervals with 3-minute rest.

0.75 miles (5:20/mile pace), ave HR 166

0.73 miles (5:28/mile pace), ave HR 174

0.75 miles (5:20/mile pace), ave HR 176

0.77 miles (5:10/mile pace), ave HR 176 (slight downhill, so faster)

Felt good. Ave HR for workout 158. Max HR during fartlek 184.

AM - lifted weights at gym. Weighed in at 130 lbs.

PM - Easy run; did big loop around Logan and rocked out to Mutual Admiration Society. 6:41/mile pace.

Red burn day in Logan today. The air is pure soup. I was feeling sick to my stomach during the run because of it. I'll try to get up either Blacksmith or Logan Canyon tomorrow for my long run.

Jogged around the block with the dog. Then Cody came by and picked me up (and Dan too) to run in Blacksmith Fork. The goal was to get out of the inversion and we were successful in that. We parked near the 6.75 mile mark of the TOU course and ran up the canyon toward Hardware Ranch. Turned around at 6.5 miles (near the start line) and came back downhill. I did 6x100m strides near the top. We kept a good pace for most the run, and my mile splits were 7:05, 7:05, 7:12, 7:17, 7:17, 6:54, 6:49, 6:51, 6:40, 6:17, 7:11, 7:08, 6:28.

6:56/mile pace for the entire run. HR monitor was having a hard time.

It was great getting out of the smog and seeing blue sky and breathing clean air. Toward the end of the run it actually started getting pretty warm.

61.5 miles this week, 63 scheduled for next week. 

Easy out-and-back to Millville. 6:48/mile pace.

Air quality was a bit more tolerable today. I didn't feel sick while I ran. 

AM - Lifted weights

10-mile run (modified Landfill Loop) with 4.5-mile Tinman tempo in middle and 4x100m strides near end. Tempo part was 6:01/mile pace with ave HR 167. Overall run was 6:23/mile pace with ave HR 158.

Yellow burn day today.

Crosstraining day. Had my wife drop me off at the gym on the way back from the chiropractor, and did 30 minutes on the elliptical. Jogged home 1 mile from the gym.

Easy run (Providence Hill loop) with 6x100m strides in the middle. 7:03 pace for the entire run.

The inversion finally blew out (for now), so a pretty nice day today.

Today Cody, Dan, and I did a 2-mile time trial on part of the Landfill Loop. The purpose of this was to give me an idea of my current fitness and an estimate of an appropriate 5k pace for the upcoming Striders 5k in 9 days. The time trial course is very flat, and the weather was very nice with no snow or wind, and not too cold either. Other than an isolated splot of ice and slush on the first mile, road conditions were good. Did a 2-mile warmup with 4x100m strides.

I was hoping to run 10:00, but ended up at 10:27. First mile was around 5:04, so the second was 5:23, very lopsided. This was measured with my Timex GPS, so give or take a couple seconds.

I had forgotten how much it hurt to fun that fast, so this was good to do before the 5k race. I think with proper pacing, competition, pushing myself harder, and some "raceday magic" (adrenaline), I can probably hold 5:15 pace for a 5k (16:20). The Ogden course will be slower due due a sizeable hill, so I think I will be happy with under 16:40 for that race. Regardless, I did learn today that I shouldn't go out in 5:00, which will be key.

I cooled down with Cody and Dan and then turned off on 1400 N, and did 4x100m strides, which felt good. In all, my recovery from the time trial was pretty fast, a good sign. Tried to keep the pace under 7:00/mile the last two miles of the run.

****** 

I have added a new (original) entry to my personal blog regarding the upcoming Striders Series. 

Easy day, North Logan out-and-back. Caught the 7-minute guy with 2 miles left and said, "Smell ya' later!" 6:57/mile pace for entire run.

I can feel yesterday a little, but not too much. Ave HR 153.

Jogged around the block with the dog, and then met Cody for a 13.2-mile jaunt up and around Millville, Prov-town, and River Heights. Followed the new Wasatch Back Relay course on the way out, then got up on the bench for the return trip, and some running on the TOU course as well. 7:15/mile pace for the run. Felt okay, but a bit stiff. Nice morning.

65 miles total for the week, the same schedule for next week. 

Out and back route to Logan Canyon River Trail. Trail had packed snow, with pretty good footing. 6x100m strides on the way back. 6:51/mile pace for the run.

Ave HR 154 

Beautiful, warm day in Logan; wore short sleeves and sweat a lot. Did a 5-mile Tinman tempo, with splits of 6:00, 6:00, 5:59, 5:48, 5:50. Felt easy. HR stayed around 164 for the tempo. Followed it up with 4x 30-second hill surges up Country Rd. HR peaked at 173 at the end up each surge. Ave pace for entire run was 6:31; ave HR was 155

AM - Inspired by Sasha and Ted, I decided to try running before noon. I only managed to do 6:30AM, so I still have a ways to go. Easy jog around block with the dog, followed by an out-and-back to the end of the paved river trail. 4.5 miles total. It was a very nice morning, and I was pleasantly surprised to see it growing light before 7AM. Legs feel great, but the top my left foot to my lower shin feels very irritated. It don't feel it when I wear sandals or go barefoot, just with shoes. I'm wearing my birks for work today; hopefully this is nothing more than a distraction, but I'll keep tabs on it. I have an afternoon run scheduled as well.

PM - easy 7.5 miles with Cody, Dan, and Jon. 

For all those interested in the Striders 5K coming up this Saturday, I've posted some maps and profiles on my personal blog.

Ran 10 miles from work (Providence Hill Loop). Did 8x100m strides on the downhill part to help calibrate my legs to the trashing they're going to take on Saturday. 6:49/mile average pace for the run. Ave HR 150.

Top of my foot felt a little better today, but still some irritation.

Day off. Wore birks all day to let my irritated foot heal.

Ran an easy 7 miles with Jon at 7:58/mile pace. Landfill Loop. I laced my shoe differently (didn't go all the way to the top) and between that and wearing sandals the last three days, it feels fine again. I'm pretty sure what was happening was that the tendons at the top of my foot were being aggravated by tying my shoes too tight.

I'm ready to go in the 5k tomorrow. The course will be brutal, but fortunately success in a racing circuit is measured not by how fast you run, but by where you place. And we all run the same course! 

Striders 5K this morning. Abnormally warm day for early February, mid-40's for temp, overcast, no wind. In other words, perfect. I arrived to the Start about 50 minutes before the race, checked in, and warmed up for a few miles. I knew from my elevation profile that this race would be very hilly, as we will essentially run up and down the highest Bonneville Shoreline terrace. I was rather dreading it.

At the start line, it appeared that there was a very good field: Joe, Corbin, Bob, Steve, Sasha, Leon, Nate, and so on and so on. Basically all the usual suspects, and then some. I put Top 3 and money out of my head and decided to just focus on running smart and "my race".

The first mile felt pretty easy and had a good amount of flat and slightly uphill terrain. Sasha's GPS beep cued me to look at my watch at 0.5-mile, which I hit in 5:34. The gradient increased substantially by the end of the mile. Went through the mile in 5:23, which was right where I wanted to be. I was in 5th place at that point, further up than I expected given the field.

By the end of the 1st mile and into the 2nd mile, things got really steep. I focused on trying to stay smooth, not make any foolish moves, and keep from going too anaerobic. The crest of the big hill came sooner than I expected, and I was still feeling quite good, so I knew at that point that I was going to have a good race. I moved into 4th, passing Leon at some point, and then Joe started falling off Corbin and Bob. I realized that if I kept my pace, I would pass him. The downhills were like roller coasters, and I just flailed my arms for balance and let gravity chunder me down at high speeds. I passed Joe on the downhill, and I was then in 3rd. If I could hold that, I would take a home a little cash which is always nice. Mile 2 split was 5:39 (11:02 2-mile).

The last mile had mixed up and downs, but mostly downhills. I just tried to keep momentum going and my form good. With about half a mile left, I realized that no one was going to catch me, plus I was starting to gain on Bob and Corbin. Unfortunately, I couldn't quite get enough oxygen into my gaping mouth, but still tried to push it the best I could. Corbin made a move up front, dropped Bob, and put more distance on myself as well. Bob came back to me a bit, but I ran out of road, and he ended up finishing a couple seconds ahead. I finished strong, but it wasn't exactly a blazing sprint either. I would describe the race in general as a steady effort without too many surges, very even "pacing" and effort given the terrain. Last mile split was 4:59. Last 200m was 35 seconds. Overall time was 16:36. 3rd place. Also noteable: a 1-2-3 finish for the Wasatch Running Center. Overall results are here.

I was VERY pleased with this race. I did not expect to finish in the top 3 in that particular field, and was quite tickled to finish that close to speedsters like Bob and Corbin. This is a great start to the season!

Cooled down a few miles with everyone afterward.

PM - Did an easy 5.5-mile afternoon run to get some more mileage and shake the race and car trip out of my leg. Felt pretty good.

Crummy rainy day. I decided to wait for a day not so crummy to run.

Recovery from the race has been good. Very little residual soreness and I don't feel "pounded" at all (partially due to wearing lightweight trainers rather than racing flats).

****

For those interested in the Wasatch Back Relay, I have posted an entry on my MarathonGIS blog describing the 2007 course changes, and a link to some sweet flash maps. 

Tinman Tempo on Landfill Loop. Did a couple miles at 6:20-6:30, and then held 6:00-6:10 for the 6-mile tempo duration. HR was in the upper 160's up to 170 for the tempo. Did 4x100m strides afterwards. Ave pace for run was 6:28/mile.

Ran to gym and lifted weights this morning. Today was supposed to be "bagel Tuesday" at the gym, but there were no bagels there. Needless to say, I was vexed. After lifting, I ran home and scarfed a cliff bar, then continued with my run. Very easy pace day; not a whole lot of energy. 7:30/mile pace for the run. I did my run on the canal trail loop, and there was no snow to be found. It's been a very strange February. I bought some trail shoes (Brooks Cascadia) at the WRC last Saturday, so I may be able hit some trails sooner than later!

Weighed in today at 128 lbs. That was before breakfast, but still, oh my! I actually need to put on a few pounds now. However, I know that the general weight loss has been key to improving my race times and staying injury-free. I was 145 lbs last year at this point, and fighting knee and back problems. According to my blog, I was 143 lbs a couple days before I PR'ed in the half marathon last April; I am now 15 lbs lighter than that. Just running a quick, generic calculation, since V02Max is a volume (mL) divided by mass (kg), if my oxygen volume is roughly the same, given the fact that I've dropped 6.5 kg, my V02Max could be up to 7 units higher due to just dropping weight. I know that's a simplistic calculation, but the general idea holds true. I think the fact that I just ran a 5k about a minute faster than at this point last year adds some validity to the calcualtion as well.

All that being said, I'm already chowing down as it is, and am still losing weight, so I need to chow down some more. I added an addition PB&J sandwich to my lunch today as a start. 

North Logan out-and-back, easy pace. 6:53/mile. Did 6x100m strides in middle. Feeling totally recovered from Saturday, and ready to work again.

CV fartlek, 5x4-minutes, 3 minutes rest. Overall 5:20 pace for intervals. 6:28/mile pace for entire run. Millville out-and-back route. Did 2x30s hill charges at end. Ave HR for intervals in low 170s, maxed at 186 on last interval.

Met Dan, David, and Jon at the Logan Canyon River Trail (ran from work). Ran the trail from the gate to Spring Hollow campground and back. Very easy pace. The trail was very muddy, and icy in some spots still. The single track was especially slick.

Awesome, warm sunny day today; ran in shorts in t-shirt. Did a 15-miler, with Dan and Cody for most of it. We held 6:57 pace for the first 11.5 miles, then dropped off Dan. Then Cody and I did  2 miles of loops in the LHS grass field at around 7:20/mile. It was good to get on the softer surface. I finished off the run with my dog. I took my dog to the vet today for a routine checkup, and he weighed in at 98 lbs, almost 20 pounds heavier than last year. I told him afterwards he needs to get his butt into shape, so I'll try to take him out for longer runs to help him accomplish that.

Easy distance today. Started out with a few miles on the track to calibrate the Suunto Foot Pod that I'm testing. I did 6x100m strides on the track, and decided to time them just see to see how fast I'm running. The strides were all between 14.5 - 16.0 seconds. They were very hard, but not all-out, so I reckon I can probably run 13.5 in an all-out sprint right now.

Went out after that to the paved river trail and back, then grabbed my fat, out-of-shape dog and dragged him the last three miles through some neighborhoods. Gil went out hard, but after one 6:30 mile, he was sucking wind, and I had to work to get him under 8:00/mile pace the rest of the way. Pretty sad; he used to do 13-milers with me.

Nice day, wore short sleeves and shorts. Ave HR 139. Got up to 179 on the strides. 

Did 6.5-mile Tinman tempo on First Dam Run course. 6:00/mile pace for the first 3 miles, 5:45/mile pace for the remainder. Felt kind of lazy before the run, but it ended up feeling really good, especially biomechanics. Did 4x30-second hill charges up the Boulevard after then tempo. Cooled down with the dog. He made it two miles this time without bonking out, so some improvement.

Lots of snow this morning, but roads were quite clear by the time I ran at 3PM. 

Averaged 6:30/mile pace for the entire run. Ave HR for entire run was 166. 

AM - ran to gym, lifted weights, and then ran home via TOU course. Did another half mile with the dog. 5.5 miles total at easy pace. Weighed in at 130 lbs.

PM - 7.5 easy. Landfill loop at 7:00/mile pace, then a couple miles with the dog. 7:15/mile pace for entire run. Ave HR 134, max 148.

The Suunto unit is a much better, more stable HR monitor than anything else I've used. It has yet to give me a weird reading, even on cold days.

North Logan - Campus Loop. 7:00/mile pace. Did 6x100m strides. Ave HR 136, max 166.

Day off. My work for the week is done. Now it's just time to freshen up my legs for the 10K this weekend.

Speaking of Striders10K this weekend, I've posted an entry and some maps today on my MarathonGIS blog. Check it out if you're interested.

Easy distance for mini-taper. I wanted to do 7 miles, but ran out of time due to dinner obligations. It's unfortunate when having a life butts into my running. I should have planned better.

Striders 10-K. I got up a bit early and used TP Massage Ball to work over my lower back, which had been bothering me a little over the last few days. Weather was a little chilly, but sunny with no wind to speak of. Good racing weather. The competition was the same as last time, with the addition of Dennis. I was not sure what kind of race Dennis was going to run, but decided not to worry him too much and worry about myself instead. Warmed up 2 miles.

For details of the 10k course, click here. By the way, my memory during races tends to be a bit fuzzy, so some of the following may be slightly inaccurate.

Because of all the hills, I wanted to go out rather conservatively, but still keep contact with the lead pack. The pack accomodated this by going out quite slow, so I found myself right up front without expending much energy. There was about a pack of 6-10 during the first half mile, which thinned out to a group of 4 by the end of the second mile: myself, Joe, Corbin, and Bob.

The third mile featured a very large climb (~300ft) that kicked my butt, and made me go anaerobic. This worried me a little, as I have done zero anaerobic or V02Max training (besides the 5k race). Fortunately, I stayed close to the leaders through this stretch. At the 3-mile point (18:03 for the split), it was Bob and Joe, and then Corbin, followed by me. On the downhill, I recovered a bit and started moving. I caught and passed Corbin by 3.5, and then caught Bob and Joe by the 4-mile point (or so, I can't remember). Traded leads with Bob and Joe during the 5th mile, and at one point I tried a weak attempt of breaking away (I was feeling pretty good still), but with no success. Passed the 5-mile mark still feeling decent, but it's hard not to feel good when running downhill. The last climb with about a mile left took the wind out of my sails, and it was a struggle. Bob had made a really nice move just before that and broken away, and continued to pull farther from everyone going up the hill. Joe was a few seconds ahead of me, and I retained the spread, but felt myself getting weaker as the hill went on. Once we got back to the downhill, I struggled to regain my speed, and Corbin went by me into 3rd place. Corbin soon passed Joe as well, but Bob was a ways ahead. Joe was still in striking distance for me, but I could not close well, and the gap widened a little. Meanwhile, Corbin was still closing like a madman. Apparently he ran a 4:21 indoor mile last week. But Bob's earlier surge had put enough distance on the rest of the field to secure his win without challenge. Bob - Corbin - Joe - Me - Dennis - Someone - Sasha. Nice race everyone.

My final time was 34:47. Mile splits were 5:57, 12:05 (2-mile split -- missed mile 2), 4:58, 5:02, 5:36. Several people suspected the first mile was long, and perhaps the course was a little long (although we all took horrible tangents due to snow/ice), but it's a race, so who cares? This was more like a cross country race in some ways; time didn't matter, just place.

I was pretty happy with this race. I was off my predicted time by about 20 seconds, but the winners were much slower than my predictions as well. Thus, I can assume that the prediction was wrong. In the 5k I was 11 seconds behind the winner; today in the 10k I was 19 seconds behind the winner. Looking at it in this light, I probably ran equal to or slightly better than my 5k performance two weeks ago. I enjoyed mixing it up and racing with Joe, Corbin, and Bob, and I don't feel like I made any strategical errors. My only downfall was not being able to hold it the last mile and finish off the race with a surge. I'm still missing a little bit of the "killer racing instinct" as well, that is required to win 5k's and 10k's. But all things considered, it was a pretty good race for me, and I look forward to the 10-miler.

Cooled down ~3.5 miles immediately after race.

Official race results are up impressively quick. Click here. 

Ran another 4 miles around 2PM to get some more mileage and work the race and car ride out of me. All body parts feel intact. Pace: 7:45/mile. Ave HR 145. This heart rate is high for the pace. I must be fatigued or dehydrated....hmmm...I wonder why!

67 miles total for this week. I will bump it up to 70 miles for the next two weeks.

AM - Woke up and my legs felt like I ran a hilly 10K yesterday...quads a bit tired and sore, outside of the calves battered, and general fatigue. I ran an easy mile with the dog to test things out. No pains, just the usual effects of a hard 10K, so that's good. The legs felt better after the little jog. I'll try another short run later today to continue to work the race out.

PM - Easy 4 mile out-and-back on paved river trail. Legs are feeling better. 7:40/mile pace. Ave HR 137 - a sign of good recovery.  

Easy 10 miles (Millville out-and-back) at 7:30/mile pace. Did 6x100m strides midway through the run, and stopped at the gym near the end and lifted weights. Finished up with a block with the dog. Ave HR 141. Max 169 during the strides. Still recovering from the race, but I think I'll be ready for a workout tomorrow.

I've posted a new entry on my personal blog about a cool race result database called Athlinks. Check it out if you're interested in that sort of nerdy stuff.

**************

Snow this morning, so I waited until 3:30PM to do my run. It's nice having a very flexible job, and I actually owe some of my winter fitness to being able to wait around to run on good footing. Indeed, the snow today had melted, and roads were wet, but grippy. The sun came out as well, and it was actually very nice out. Good day for a workout.

I had a 7-mile Tinman tempo scheduled, but I wasn't sure how it was going to go due to some of the 10K still being in my legs. I wanted to work on hills some, so I did the 12-mile Millville-Providence-River Heights loop, which goes up and down the benches. I warmed up for three miles, then started the tempo. I was sluggish the first miles, but then things clicked during the remaining 6 miles, and it ended up being an excellent workout that felt good. I was able to work the hills, but still feel fast and strong on them, so I think the races have served to increase my fitness over the last couple weeks. Tempo mile splits were 6:08, 6:00, 6:26, 6:12, 6:03, 5:47, 5:52. First two miles were rolling, the next three had a lot of uphill, and the last two had a lot of downhill. HR stayed in the 170 range during the tempo, and peaked at 180 on the hills. Average pace for entire 12-mile run was 6:24/mile.

North Logan out-and-back. 7:10/mile pace. Did 6x100m strides midway. Ave HR ~145.

Got up at 5:30AM, commuted to Denver. 4 hours of meetings. Commuted back to Utah. Got home at 10PM. I hate commuting, especially the airplane kind. I'll be glad for my 4-block walk to work tomorrow. I managed to squeeze in 5 miles when I got home (Gym-to-gym loop), despite just wanting to go to bed. But it felt good to work the travel out of my legs.

Did 5x4-minute CV fartlek (2:30-minute rest) on Mendon Road.  Pace was 5:20-5:30/mile for all the intervals. Did a mile at "brisk" pace (6:20) before and after the fartlek session. Finished off the workout with 4x100m strides. I didn't feel very sharp today, but still gave myself a good workout without wearing myself out too much. Kind of a "blah" week this week; I'll be glad when it's over.

Long run with Jon and Cody. Long and slow. And cold! It was about 0 degrees when we started, and 10 degrees when we passed the Providence bank near the end at 9AM. My hands and other certain appendages were in a fair amount of pain. We finally caught the 8-minute guy by the end. I needed slow today, it's been a long week with both work and running. I look forward to tackling a good week of training next week.

70 miles total for the week, the same scheduled for next week. 

Easy run to First Dam and back. 6:52/mile pace for run. Did a block with the dog afterwards.

12-mile run (Millville-Providence Loop) with 7-mile Tinman tempo within. It is a rolling course with a lot of uphill in the middle and downhill at the end. Tempo splits were 6:03, 5:54, 6:18 (uphill), 6:45 (uphill), 6:14, 5:51 (downhill), 5:38 (downhill). I threw in a couple hill surges before the tempo, and a few 100m strides afterwards. Stopped at gym toward end of run and lifted weights and ate free pizza before waddling home. Gotta love free food. All-in-all, felt very good today, better than most of the past week. 6:28/mile pace for the entire run. Ave HR 163.

(Adrenaline orange: 94 miles)

Easy 9-mile run (North Logan Out-and-Back). I had passed the 7-minute guy near the end, but with two blocks to go, some lady about hit me in her car. Why is it Logan drivers are incapable of looking for pedestrians, runners, and cyclists? The end result was me stopping abruptly, and then manuevering around the car. In the meantime the 7-minute guy passed me back, and I ran out of road before I could catch him again. Oh well.

(Adrenaline black: 319.5 miles) 

AM - Easy 6 miles. Went and ran on the paved river trail, and bumped into Cody on the way back. We ran together until the end of the trail, then I diverted off to the new Macys. They are having their grand opening of their new store, and mailed out coupons for free eclairs, free sausage, and free deli salad. I hate Macys almost as much as Walmart, but love free stuff even more, so I decided to check it out. I managed to get the sausage and some seafood salad, but they were out of eclairs and wouldn't have more until 10AM. Seeing as to how is was 6:45AM, I wasn't about to wait around, so I took my other plunder and ran back home 2 miles carrying a bag of meat and salad. Al Gore would have been proud, especially since today is a Red Burn Day here in Logan. It's too bad, though, because I really wanted the eclairs. I was looking forward to eating a six-pack of them at work this morning with multiple cups of coffee. Oh well. Oatmeal it is.

My SI joint had been bothering me for the last two weeks, but I went in to the chiropractor for my monthly appointment last night, and he got my hips rotated back into alignment. Running felt much smoother today. It's always great to get the ol' body fixed up and tuned correctly. Running has been "blah" over the last week or so, mostly because of SI discomfort and feeling biomechanically "off". This morning was very enjoyable, and I had more hop in my step. Hopefully it will stick and not immediately slide back.

(Adrenaline yellow: 416 miles)

I just had a good laugh. I clicked on the "real age" banner ad out of curiosity and annoyance (I'm kind of sick of seeing it), and I took the "real age" test. Although my calendar age is 27.7 years, my RealAge is 18.5! That's funny to me, since that's exactly how old I look. Whenever I fly with my boss for business trips, the ticket counter people assume I'm his son and ask me if I even have a drivers license. It's one thing to get carded at the bar, but another to be asked if you're even 16-years old! Anyway, click on that banner ad for a good chuckle to give Sasha a little ad revenue.

PM - Did 8 miles (Landfill Loop) at 6:48/mile pace. 8x100m strides near the end. Nice day, other than the inversion.

(Adrenaline orange: 102 miles)

For those interested in the Striders 10-miler this weekend, I've posted my thoughts and some analysis of it on my personal blog.

Ran an easy 10 miles in the evening around River Heights and Providence, most of it with Jon. Beautiful day.

(Adrenaline black: 329 miles)

I've posted a map-making tutorial on my personal blog, and some screenshots of the WRC 10-mile course. Check it out if you're interested.

Easy 8 miles out to First Dam and back along 10k course. Did some very short striders too.

(Adrenaline yellow: 424 miles)

Striders 10-miler. Dee Events Center (again). Weather was overcast with an occasional ray of sun. Light breeze, enough to be noticeable as a headwind at times, and cool temperatures, in the lower 40s. Pretty good racing conditions, and just warm enough to go with the singlet and shorts (and gloves).

My goal today was to back off a little at the beginning and then race very hard the last half. This would ensure a quality workout, a good overall finish, and faster recovery. I also wanted revenge on that last hill of the race from the 10K, and going out a little slower would help that cause.

The field was good, but a little less dense that the 5k and 10k. I think people are a little tired of racing every other week, and are tired of painfully difficult courses. Plus, 10 miles is not a popular distance. I suspect that those not committed to the entire series just stayed home.

Right at the gun, Joe jumped out to a lead, and no one bothered going with him. I soon found myself running with Bob, and by the end of the first mile, we had separated from the rest of the pack. Joe was already was out ahead by that point. I did not intend to get out this fast relative to the pack, but I had someone to run with and the pace felt good, about MP. However, the first couple miles were downhill, and although it felt very easy, I was a little worried about coming back up them the other way and wondered if I should have stayed back with the others. But for now things were good, and working in with Bob was helping. First two-mile split was 10:55 (missed the 1-mile mark), 3rd mile was 5:53 (long?), 4th "mile" was 4:19 (short; apparently the race cut off a block).

Things got hard around Mile 5, where the course climbed a bit more steeply before it went back down toward the Ice Sheet. Bob dropped me temporarily here, and I went a little bit anaerobic up the hill. This made me uneasy, since there was still over four miles and a really big hill left. But I recovered on the downhill and caught back up to Bob right before we started the "real" climb during Mile 7. Joe, meanwhile, was somewhere out there still, a distant speck. He looked strong, but seemed to have stopped pulling away at least. Mile 5 was 5:43, Mile 6 was 6:17.

Bob and I worked up the big hill (which I've nicknamed "Stairway to Hell"), and again, Bob pulled away toward the crest. But I was still feeling okay and knew that I would be basically home free at the top. I crested the hill and started hammering back down, made up lost ground on Bob, and caught him before Mile 8. We then started working together to try to catch Joe, who seemed to finally be coming back a little. I started to struggle a little, and Bob took over and blocked the headwind for me, and also started surging pretty hard. I was able to work in with him and stay tucked in. But unfortunately Bob's calf went out right before 9 miles, so I went on solo. It was really too bad, because I was just starting to remember how to work with a teammate again. Two people working together can always pull more load than the summation of two individuals working by themselves. Basic rule of pack running, and something I haven't done much since college. It gives me hope for marathon pack running with teammates though. Mile 7 was 6:26, Mile 8 was 5:01, Mile 9 was 5:16.

Regardless, I was feeling good enough with a mile to go to make a good charge up that final hill (a big goal for me) and then have a very good kick during the last 800 meters. I still finished about 25 seconds behind Joe, so some ground was gained, but he ran a very strong, complete race. Final time was 55:20. Last mile was 5:28. Final results are here.

All in all, I was quite happy with this race. It was definitely better than the 10K, and maybe a bit better than the 5K. I still struggled on some of the uphills, but I think there was some improvement, and I seemed to be able to recover and surge well on the downhills. Looking back at the splits, perhaps my uphills were a little better than I originally assessed, but I can only gauge at the time by how I feel (hurting a lot) and by the competition around me (Bob and Joe). So maybe I'm an okay uphill runner, but Bob and Joe are just really good at it, I don't know.

Talking to people with Garmins and to Bill, we generally agreed that the course that was run today was a little short, probably about 0.12 miles, which is exactly one block. Bill said that a block was cut off from the certified course, so there you have it. Regardless, even with adding a minute or so, I'm still very pleased with my time, as I didn't expect to run much under 58:00. The course was pretty fun, and seemed to allow more recovery than the 10K course. It's no wonder that times were relatively faster.

(Burn: 66 miles)

Day off. Went for a long walk with my wife and dog to enjoy the nice day. My legs are feeling pretty good after the race yesterday, with less soreness and fatigue compared to the 10K. I think this is due to:

• The 10-mile course was slightly more forgiving (particularly the first half)
• Threshold pace is easier to recover from than V02Max (at least for me)
  
• The previous races have stressed my body in a positive way and promoted good adaptation
  

Gorgeous, wonderful day. About 60 degrees and sunny. I ran the the North Logan-USU loop and did 6x100m striders in the middle. 6:54/mile pace for the run. Felt good, with little soreness or fatigue from the race. I'll try a workout tomorrow.

(Adrenaline black: 339 miles) 

Yet another awesome day out. I did an 8-mile tempo today on the Young Ward Loop. I didn't have a GPS, so used the grid system wherever I could in order to get splits. First mile was about 5:55. The next couple miles I couldn't get because of irregular-spaced roads. The next four miles I was hitting MP, and was locked in on 5:40/mile. The last mile I scaled it back some and tried to hit about 6:00-pace. The 5:40's felt very comfortable, and I was very happy with this workout. It's nice to run on something pancake-flat, rather than those hills in Ogden! 6:10/mile pace for the overall run.

Did some running with the dog to round out the mileage.

(Adrenaline orange:  115 miles)

Ran from work to the canal trail and met James. We then ran out to 2nd Dam and back on the River Trail. The trail was free of snow and mud in most places (not all though). In a few days it should be totally dry. Easy pace today, but picked it up on the way back.

(Adenaline black:  350 miles)

Did a bit of a "fun run" today. I was supposed to do 8x1000m on the track, but I lost my spirit when the the LHS track was in use by a bunch of high school kids. Go figure. So I ran 2 miles at "brisk" pace in the grass field around the school. 6:30/mile pace on the grass. Then I took the shoes off and did 4x200m barefoot strides in the grass. Times were in the 33-34s range. It felt good to go barefoot again. Then I headed up toward USU's campus to try to hit their track, and surged up every hill I hit along the way for a bit of a hill fartlek. Once I got to the track (thankfully it was empty), I did 800m to calibrate the Polar RS800 I'm testing. Then I did a 3200m tempo in 10:40 (5:22, 5:18), which is my goal half marathon pace. It felt pretty solid, but I don't think I could have held it for 11 more miles...Ran down the hill back to my office to finish up. 13.5 miles total for the day, a good overall workout with a lot of variety.

Some Polar RS800 stats:

Ave HR: 149, Max HR 180 (during tempo); Ave HR during tempo: 172

Ave stride length: 4ft, 2in, ave stride length during tempo: 4ft 11in

Ave Cadence: 89, Max Cadence: 103 (during tempo); ave cadence during tempo: 98

It's evident to me that I can waste tremendous amount of time playing with this thing.

Still having some SI irritation. It often goes away by the end of the run, but I just need to keep stretching it, and the chiro will help too. Also, the ball of my foot (just underneath my big toe) has been hurting lately. I need to keep an eye on it, but I'm not sure what it is. It has been going on at very low levels for several weeks, or even months, but became more pronounced after the 10-mile race. Maybe it's time to ditch the orthotics...

(Adrenaline orange:  129 miles)

Easy distance. Ran around Providence and then on paved river trail, then back home. Nice day. I ran today without my custom orthotics, just my OTC PowerSteps. It felt a little weird, and definitely a lot lighter. And my head didn't explode, nor did the sun crash into the moon because of it. The reason I tried this is because I was hypothesizing that the ball of my foot was hurting because of too much pressure due to the heel lift of the orthotic. Today the ball of my foot felt a bit better, a good sign, but more runs will prove this or not. It's possible that I've worn out the orthotic (I've already put 1400 miles on them, which is probably beyond "typical" use), or my body has changed since the pressure test, thereby making the orthotic ineffective. Or both. SI joint felt a bit better this morning as well, and stayed good during the run.

7:30/mile pace. Ave HR 141.

(Adrenaline black: 359 miles) 

Went to Lava Hot Springs last night, and then soaked in the springs most of this morning. Needless to say, when I got home I felt more like taking a nap than doing on long run, but fortunately I had Jon, James, Cody, and Dan to run with today. We ran from the canal trailhead (dugway) and ran to the end of the River Trail and back (Guivena Malibu). The trail was icy and muddy in some spots, but much of it was in very good shape. Another week like this last week should melt the rest of the ice. Conversation abounded and pace was slow (8:15/mile). Just what the doctor ordered for today. Plus the soft surface was good, and I broke in my new Brooks Cascadia's. They are now completely covered with mud, so no longer tennis ball green.

Ave HR 139

Ave Cadence 89

Ave stride length 3ft 7 in (much shorter strides on the slippery trail)

(Cascadia: 20 miles) 

Easy run to end of paved river trail and then to LHS rec fields to do a couple laps in the grass and then 4x200m barefoot striders. Ran home and then did a few blocks with the dog. Didn't bother wearing a watch today, so no idea of pace.

The ball of my foot has been feeling pretty stable, and seems to have even gotten a little better since Thursday. I still feels a little bruised/inflammed when I push down on it, but doesn't bother me much while walking or running. I think switching to the lower-heel OTC insert has helped. So far no complications from not wearing my custom orthotics, now for the third day in a row.

(Adrenaline yellow: 430 miles) 

Workout day. I ran up to the USU track, and did a 2-mile tinman tempo along the way (6:00/mile pace or so) to warm up. On the track, I did 8x1000m at CV pace (~5:15/mile) with 200m rest (1:10). I took 600m (3:00) after the 4th interval to break it up into two sets. The workout felt very good, and I hit my time goals. The ball of my foot was rather tingly and swollen-feeling by the end, but not really it any pain. Ran home afterward, iced the foot, drank some gatorade, and ate couple cookies before going back to work. HR peaked at 187 on the last interval, when I cranked it up a little bit the last lap. Feels good to be on a track!

(Adrenaline orange: 143 miles)

Interval	Time	Ave HR	Cadence	Stride Length
1	3:14.5	171	102	4'10"
2	3:16.3	175	100	4'10"
3	3:16.0	178	100	4'10"
4	3:15.6	179	100	4'11"
5	3:15.6	177	100	4'10"
6	3:16.3	178	99	4'11"
7	3:15.1	181	100	4'11"
8	3:11.8	181	101	4'11"

 

Easy 9-mile North Logan out-and-back. 7:08/mile pace. Ave HR was 146 (a little high), perhaps not as easy as I thought...some recovery is needed from the workout yesterday. Ball of foot felt pretty good. SI feels decent.

Ave stride length: 4'0"

Ave cadence: 91

Easy distance (Landfill Loop), plus 4x150m barefoot striders in the grass. 7:06/mile pace. Ave HR 150. Over cast and cool, a nice day for running.

(Adrenaline yellow:  439 miles)

For anyone interested, I've posted on entry on my personal blog about the potential effects of taking days off. The entry stems from a message board discussion here, so mostly other people's ideas, but an interesting topic.

**********************************

Ran up to Dry Canyon, then did the Deerfence/Bonnville trail over to Millville Canyon. No snow, very little mud, and generally good footing (for that trail anyway). I tried to work the hills up to the trail and then work hard on the trail itself to get a good aerobic (and occasionally anaerobic) workout it. Kept the HR above 160 for most of this run and averaged around 7:30/mile. Once I got off the trail, I tried to keep a 6:30 pace for most of the rest of the run, which put my HR in the mid- to upper-150s. All in all, a good medium-long run and a good workout without being too format about it.

(Cascadias: 34 miles)

9 miles, easy pace. Ran up to 1st Dam and came back on canal trail, then ran south to Stewart Nature Park, did a loop, and came home. Feel a little beat up from the hills yesterday. Ave HR 143.

(Adrenaline black: 377 miles)

AM - Easy 8.3-mile run with Cody this morning. Ran up to USU track and did some 100m striders. Hit a nice pace going back down. 7:15/mile pace overall.

(Adrenaline orange: 151 miles)

PM - Ran 11.2 miles with Cody and James down Blacksmith Fork via 2-car shuttle. I wanted to get a good downhill workout in preparation for the Ogden half and the Ogden marathon. The plan was to warm up for a couple miles and then do a 4-mile tempo at half marathon pace. I would hoping I would be able to run 5:15-5:20 pace on the downhill and have it feel easy. Unfortunately, a strong headwind damped both my spirits and my stride. I ran 22:20 for the tempo, so a 5:35/mile average. HR was in the upper 170s (88-89% max) for the bulk of it. I felt like I could never get going and that there was never "enough" downhill. Still, it was a good workout, and my pace was very steady on all the splits I got. I actually felt pretty good afterwards during the rest of the run (aside from being very hungry), and the 7:00-pace was comfortable. So that was good.

Ave HR for entire run: 152

Max HR during tempo: 181

Ave pace for entire run: 6:30/mile  

I feel like I don't really have a great indicator of my true race potential right now. All of the Ogden races have been so hilly that times are meaningless. I was hoping this workout would give me an idea of where I'm at, but the headwind made it hard to correlate to the Ogden course. My body got the workout it needed for sure, but my mind is still wondering. I'm pretty sure that sub-1:10 should be doable though.

81 miles for the week (yea!). 79 miles scheduled for next week. 

(Burn:  77 miles)

Easy run out to the end of the canal trail and back. Didn't wear a watch. Glorious morning out.

(Adrenaline yellow: 445 miles)

Ran the landfill loop with Dave. Dropped Dave off and did a couple extra miles with 6x100m strides. Averaged 7:05/mile pace for the run. Ave HR 143. Felt very good today.

(Adrenaline orange: 153 miles)

Rainy, nasty day today. Unfortunately, I needed to do a longer workout today, weather good or bad. I ran the first 7 miles with Dave, averaging around 7:10/mile. It rained pretty hard on us, and my shirt was soaked, plus I lost feeling in my hands. I dropped Dave off at home, changed my shirt and shoes, and put some gloves on, and then ran over to the gym. I ran 6:20/mile pace on the way to the gym. The rain let up a little bit too, which helped. At the gym I jumped on the treadmill for 40 minutes, and started at 6:30/mile pace, and bumped up the pace every 5 to 10 minutes -- 6:15, 6:00, 5:52, 5:45, 5:39. So it was a nice progression up to marathon pace. At 5:39 pace my HR was steady at 168. Ave HR for the run was 150. Ave pace for the entire run was 6:45/mile.

I wore the Polar foot pod while on the treadmill. Its pace measurement was dead on up to 6:00/mile pace. Then as I ran faster and faster, and the pod drifted, displaying slower speeds. I found this same trend while doing track intervals last week; the pod was accurate at normal pace, but not at CV interval pace (5:10-5:15/mile). This is because (I suspect) that the my stride is different enough at higher speeds to invalidate the calibration, which was performed at lower speeds. For this one reason (in my mind), GPS is superior to foot pods: it works at any speed and any stride.

(Cascadia:  41 miles)

(Adrenaline black: 387 miles)

Ran with the del Sol team through Providence before our pre-race meeting and BBQ. Nice easy pace. It made up for the nasty cold, wind, and rain. It's fun running with a pack. Makes me feel tough. I fly to PHX tomorrow.

(Adrenaline yellow: 454 miles)

Nice easy run with Dave and Clyde in Phoenix. We found a very nice paved trail to run on near our hotel on 44th and McDowell. Ran near 6:30 pace and slower. Did 4x100m strides.

(Adrenaline orange: 162 miles)

AM - Easy 5-mile pre-race morning run with Clyde and Dave. Pace around 7:30/mile. Similar route to last night.

(Adrenaline orange: 167 miles)

8 PM - My first leg of Relay del Sol (Leg 5). Borrowed Sasha's Garmin and warmed up for 1 mile. Since AZ doesn't do daylight savings, it was quite dark by this time. Temperatures were in the low 60's, and very little wind. Dan came in to the exchange and we had a clean handoff, and I took off. I basically wanted this to be a good threshold run. The leg started on a gentle downhill, and I did the first half mile in 2:30, 5:08 for the first mile. Everything felt very good, and I could feel the lower elevation difference. There was a gentle climb from Mile 1.5 to Mile 3.5, and my pace slowed to 5:30/mile on this stretch, but still felt very strong. From 3.5 to the finish (5.8), I had a nice gentle downhill, and I opened it up along this stretch and averaged 5:00/mile, including a 4:58 mile near the end. Average pace for the overall leg was 5:15/mile. I was very pleased with this, as I felt like I could have kept going at this pace for another 5 miles or so. Good start to the relay. Cooled down about a half mile afterwards.

Team-wise, at this point we were running very well. Dave, Clyde, Dan, Jon, and I all exceeded our projected paces by quite a bit, and Sasha was right on his projected pace. We started the race with 4 teams in our wave (the other 70 teams started in waves earlier in the morning and afternoon), and it became apparent after the first couple legs that it would be a two-team race between ourselves and Google; the other two teams were way back. Google, however was putting distance on us with most of their runners. They have a very good team, including a 3:39 1500m runner who has run Oly trials. They also had very nice matching warmups and uniforms. We had a scruffy-looking bunch of people and a van without working doors. It had all the makings of a really bad sports movie.

To be continued.

(Burn: 84 miles)

Day 2 of Relay del Sol

Caught a couple hours of sleep at Exch 12, on the wrestling mats in the high school gym the exchange was at. It wasn't the best-quality sleep, but I definitely dozed a bit.

Van 2 came in around 12:30AM. They too were exceeding their projected times, and they managed to close the gap on the Google team by a few minutes. I can't remember exactly, but I think we were about 4 minutes behind after 12 legs.

Dave, Clyde, Sasha, and Dan all ran exceptionally well again, to start our next series (leg 13-18), but Google ran even better, and by the time I got the baton for Leg 17, we were slightly over 10 minutes back. I could be wrong here, as my memory is fuzzy. I'm sure Sasha will know.

My Leg 17 was around 3:30AM, so it was still, and around 50 degrees temperature. No wind. Good conditions for fast running. This leg, though, was 7.3 miles and on a steady 1% uphill grade that gained 384 ft over 7.3 miles. I was a bit concerned about it, but once I started running, it didn't seem very bad at all. I guess all those Ogden Striders races have served a purpose in that I can't feel hills anymore until they are over 6% in gradient.

I wanted to get another threshold workout out of this leg, and just let my body guide my pace and the garmin report it. For the first half of the leg I was running consistent 5:40 miles. I was feeling very good, so I pushed it a little harder on the second half of the leg to 5:35 miles. I lost 15 seconds slowing down and even stopping for various stop lights, but other than that, no mishaps. The leg ended up being about a block long, as exchange 17 was a bit further than my maps had it. Oh well. Ended up averaging 5:40/mile for the leg. By this point in the race, we were passing teams that started before us, and I mananged to pass 4 other runners during this leg. Better yet, I was able to close the gap on Google by 4 or 5 minutes. I was very happy with how it went, and felt that I would have enough juice for a good V02Max workout on the final leg.

Jon ran very well on his leg, and we gave the baton to Van 2. Time for another siesta. This time I didn't have much time to sleep, but did managed to close my eyes for a few minutes in the van while sitting at the Exch 24 parking lot.

Van 2, meanwhile, ran the legs of their lives and amazingly closed the gap on Google to 20 seconds by the time they handed the baton back to us. Over 110 miles into it, we had a true race on our hands! We thought that if we could just keep things close during our final leg set, we could at least give Van 2 a chance to win it. Google's Van 1 was definitely faster than our Van 1, but we hoped to do some damage control.

It was light again by this point. Dave, Clyde, Sasha, and Dan all ran their hearts out, and when I received the baton, we were about 4 minutes back. This was a lesser spread than our previous sets, so we were "outperforming" them in a way, by reducing the relative difference.

My last leg (28) looked to be quite fast, judging by the profile. It was only 3.4 miles and mostly downhill, with about a 2.5% gradient. This is somewhere between Top of Utah and St. George, as far as downhills go. I've been running downhill well so far this year, and hoped to hit 5:00 miles or under for this last leg, and leave whatever energy I had left out on there on the road.

Temperature was about 70 degrees, so a little warm, but not too bad. However, there was a noticeable headwind, not a total killer, but big enough to slow me down a bit. I averaged 5:06/mile, which I was happy with considering the headwind. I mananged to dip under 5:00/mile pace during the last half mile. Plus I closed the gap on Google by about a minute.

Jon maintained the gap, so Van 2 started their last set of legs only 3 minutes behind. However, we did not have our cheesy, stereotypical sports movie ending. Google pulled away from our rag-tag bunch during the last 6 legs and won by about 10 minutes. They ran 18:59:39, which is 6:05/mile for 187 miles. We ended up around 19:10:57, which is 6:08/mile. We finished 45 minutes ahead of our original projected time, meaning everyone ran incredibly awesome as a team. Third place was an hour and 40 minutes behind us. Results are here.

Not only did the race end not end like a Hollywood sports movie, but Google did not turn out to be the Hollywood sports movie villain either. They did not cheat, try to sabotague us, or wear evil mustaches. Rather, they were very nice, were great competitors, and gracious winners. We enjoyed talking to them throughout the race and afterwards at the finish line. Great job Google!

Cody and James (who were in Van 2) may write about this to verify, but it seemed like we gave it our all during the middle of the race just to surge up to Google and stay as close as we did. By the very end, Google had a bit more gas left in the tank for a knockout punch. But this is how to race, whether it be a relay or individual event. Sometimes it's necessary to take a gamble and surge hard just to stay with someone, and they pray that either you can do it one more time or that the competitor is hurting worse than you are. But races are often won by taking chances like that. And there was certainly nothing to lose.

I also think that one reason (besides altititude reduction, nice weather, and good training) that we all ran so well is that during events like relays you can relax and run without pressure. You can try things you wouldn't normally try, as there is really no consequence. Yes, we competed with Google, but really it was a big game, one that was fun to play. Being able to relax and "play the game" without worrying about PR's and such I think helps people to run faster in some cases. Just my opinion.

Check out the blogs of Cody, Dan, Dave, Jon, James, Clyde, and Sasha for their personal experiences and thoughts about the relay.

(Burn: 93 miles)

(Adrenaline orange: 166 miles)

Scheduled day off.

Easy distance run from my office to a couple miles of the Logan River Trail and back via the canal trail. Aside from tight hamstrings and a "beat-up" feeling near my ankles, I feel alright after Relay del Sol. I think I'll recover alright for the half marathon this weekend, although it's yet to be determined whether I'll do any workouts this week or just rest up instead.

Oh, our del Sol team is famous now. 

(Adrenaline black: 397 miles)

Ran from work to canal trail to Bonneville Shore Trail to Green Canyon, then up Green Canyon, turned around and went back down into Logan. Tried to get a good aerobic workout in, and worked the uphills on the trail pretty hard. I hit 5:40/mile pace coming out of Green Canyon, including a stretch at 5:10/mile pace. It's a nice downhill. Did 4x100m strides after Green Canyon, then tried to keep a good 6:30/mile pace back to the office. Alas, it was not enough to catch the 7-minute guy, as all of the slow hills and trail running in the first half slowed me down. Finished averaging 7:04/mile for the run. Ave HR 152. Soreness is gone from del Sol, although there is some residual fatigue. I'll imagine I'll freshen up during my mini-taper before the half marathon.

(Adrenaline orange:  180 miles)

For anyone interested, I've added a post to my personal blog about running doubles.

******

Easy run - landfill loop via paved river trail. Didn't track pace, but felt like 7:00-7:30/mile range. Went to LHS fields afterwards and did 4x200m barefoot strides in grass - 37, 36, 35, 33. Felt okay, but not great.

(Adrenaline yellow: 464 miles)

Easy run with Jon. Did canal trail loop with little out-and-back to 1st Dam. Legs are feeling a bit better, but are still thankful for rest. Hopefully they will be fully recovered by Saturday. I think based on my race performances and especially del Sol, I should be able to break 1:10 on Saturday, assuming conditions are good.

I still have "Bingo" stuck in my head. B - I - N - G - O !!

(Adrenaline orange:  188 miles)

Easy taper day. Ran Landfill Loop with Jon.

Striders Half Marathon today. Weather was absolutely perfect for fast running: clear, cool (~45-50 degrees), and no wind. The course has a good layout for fast running: Gentle downhill for 7 miles, followed by small rolling hills for the last 6. My training and racing has been good lately, but my only worry was whether or not I was recovered from Del Sol. I didn't feel very spunky for most of the week, although I was feeling better on Friday.

I jogged around a for about a mile before the race, and everything felt pretty good. Competition at the starting line looked to be excellent: Joe, Bob, Steve, Sasha, Neal, and others who I did not know as well. I was most worried about Bob and Joe, although I had a strong gut feeling that Steve would bust out this race and bring some competition as well.

Special guest Jeff Galloway started the race. Although I'm not a big fan of his methods, I do like what he has done for the sport and all the new people and exposure he has brought. So that was neat. I took to the lead of the pack from the gun. I'm not sure why I did this, as I usually like to hang back, but today it felt right. The first half mile was probably the slowest of the race, due the the race starting on an uphill. Once we crested the hill, I got my coveted downhill, and opened it up to try to get into my race rhythm and also to start stringing out the pack, which seemed too large and was making me uncomfortable.

We soon broke out into a pack of 6: me, Bob, Joe, Sasha, Steve, and Neal. First mile was long (5:52). I think I heard Sasha's GPS beep around 5:25 or so, but not sure. We kept rumbling down the canyon, and I felt very smooth. Mile 2 was 5:12. That's better. I wanted to hit 5:15's in on the downhill, figuring I could hold 5:25's on the last half to come in at 1:10. Mile 3 was 5:15. Mile 4 was 5:10. Still feeling very very good. By now I wasn't hearing Sasha's beeps, so I knew he had dropped back. I was still leading the pack with Bob, but could count a total of 5 shadows, so I knew Joe, Steve, and Neal were still there.

Mile 5 was 5:12, Mile 6 was 5:13. Nothing hurting, good rhythm. I felt confident that I would at least not fall apart on the last half. Hamstrings were a little tight, but the calves were good and breathing was easy. By the end of Mile 6 there were only two shadows, just Bob and I.

Mile 7 was 5:09. We turned the corner in here somewhere to start our circumnavigation of Pineview Reservoir. No more downhill. Rats. We'll see what the "rollie-pollies" (as Bob called the rolling hills) would do to our pace. Right now I knew I was on pace for 1:09, if I could just hold it...

Mile 8 was 5:13. Apparently losing the downhill would not be a killer. Still working with Bob, but rather surprised we had broken away like that. Running out front makes me paranoid.

Mile 9 was 5:35. Mile 10 was 5:06. I imagine 9 was long and 10 was short, but none of the race mile marks were that trustworthy anyway. Regardless, 5:20/mile pace for two miles, which I could dig.

Bob fell back a little during Mile 10, and I started laboring in here more as well. But I still felt strong and decided to make a big push over the last 5K and finish off the race. I've only won one road race in my life (PC Marathon), and I always get scared when I'm leading. My hands were also pretty numb by this point, and it was difficult to push my watch button to get splits, so I decided to just forget it and do mental math instead, as the watch was a distraction.

Mile 11 was 5:25. I had lost a good amount of leg power by now, and started focusing very hard on increasing my turnover to compensate. Whenever my speed lapsed, I would throw another surge to keep my mind and body focused on the task. Mile 12 was 5:20. Better. By now I was making weird noises, as I usually do late in a race when I'm pushing hard. Fortunately no one was around to make fun of me. Still running paranoid though. I pushed as hard as I could the last mile. At this point I wasn't sure if the course would be short, long, or correct, but either way I would hate to barely miss 1:10.

I turned the last few corners, and knew I must be getting close, but couldn't see the finish line. Finally turned one more corner and had a 200m straight shot. At this point I knew I would break 1:10, but still tried to finish it off hard. Final time was 1:09:27, a new PR by 3:20. Split for last 3.1 miles was 16:28, meaning my last 1.1 miles was somewhere around 5:12/mile-pace.

Bob finished 2nd (1:10:11), then Steve (nice job!, 1:10:57), then Joe (1:11:26), then Neal (1:11:49). Fast times on a fast course! Full results are here. I'm amazed how fast they get these results up!

Cooled down several miles with Bob and the Logan crew, then did another mile on my own. The more I cooled down, the better I felt, but this race definitely worked me over. Judging by how I feel as I type this, I will be sore tomorrow!

Needless to say, I was thrilled with how today went. I knew I was capable of breaking 1:10, but it's a huge release and monkey off my back to actually do it. Also I'm pumped about winning the race amongst such strong competition. In my experience, you only get a couple races a year, or every couple years, where everything just "clicks", and you can tell your body what to do, and it obeys. Today was one of those days. The last day I had like that was St. George in 2005.

According to a race calculator, my time equates to a 2:25:30 marathon, so I suppose my next goal is to break 2:25 at the Ogden Marathon. I still have to register for the race, but I'm for sure planning on running it now. I definitely need to put in some more miles and long runs first, and I plan to hang in the upper 80s to 90 for miles over the next four weeks before my taper.

My new blog mascot is Multiple Man (see photo). Multiple Man was one of my favorite comic book superheroes when I was a kid. He a fairly ordinary guy (couldn't fly, no superstrength, etc.) with one and only one superpower: he could create multiples of himself (dopplegangers). Over the next four weeks I need to be Multiple Man in order to juggle work and family, and still get in my training and proper sleep. Time management is key. And yes, I will be doing "doubles" several days a week now too.

(Burn: 110 miles)

I got up early before church this morning and did a nice, easy post-race shakeout run. Ran to the end of the paved river trail and back out, then through Willow Park, and back home, plus another mile with the dog. It was a beautiful morning: it had just rained, so the air was humid and had that "fresh" feeling to it. Reminded me of running back in Indiana. Plus, I didn't see a single other soul during the run; it was just me, God, and the birds in our outdoor sanctuary. A perfect way to start my Easter morning!

I wasn't as sore as I thought I would be from the race. Just that "beat-up" feeling around my ankles, and a little fatigue in the quads. The run went quite well. I didn't wear a watch, but it was probably around 8:00/mile pace. Yesterday after the race I massaged everything, took a nap, and then went out and played some frisbee with my wife, so did some barefoot running in the grass. My legs actually felt a lot better after that, so I think it's good to keep moving after a race.

Happy Easter everyone!!! 

(Adrenaline yellow:  475 miles)

AM - Slept in until 7AM, then got up and ran an easy 4 miles (paved river trail). Legs are still in recovery mode, but have improved noticeably each day since the race, so that's good. If I feel completely recovered tomorrow, I'll try some tempo running.

PM - Another easy 7 miles, this time out to the Hydro Park and back via the canal trail. Pace was 7:35/mile. Ave HR hung out in the upper 130s for most of the run. Everything is feeling pretty good.

(Adrenaline black: 408 miles)

stupid blog lost my entry when I hit submit and I don't feel like typing it all again. Did a workout. 6.5 miles tinman tempo. Windy. 6:30pace into the wind, 5:50 pace with tailwind. 4x100m strides.

(adrenaline orange: 202 miles) 

AM - Ran an easy 6 miles with Cody. We did the River Heights Loop. Ave 8:00/mile pace.

(Adrenaline yellow: 481 miles)

PM - Gym-to-gym loop from work, with out-and-back on paved river trail in middle. 8 miles total, 7:10/mile. Felt okay but not great. Stopped at gym in middle of run to weigh myself and do some chinups and arm curls. Weighed in at 130 lbs.

(Adrenaline black:  416 miles)

AM - 4 easy miles. Paved river trail. Did 6x100m striders, which felt pretty snappy.

(Adrenaline orange: 206 miles) 

PM - Jogged the dog around the block, then ran with Ben and Jon on the Logan Canyon River Trail. We took the upper loop to the top of Spring Hollow, and then back down through Spring Hollow Campground and back on the River Trail. It was longer than what I set out to do, but a fun run. It was good to run with Ben again, despite his stinky butt.

(Cascadia: 51 miles)

CV interval workout on the track today. Did 6x1000m with 200m jog in between (~1 minute). Started out by warming up 1 mile, and then doing Tinman Tempo on the way up to the USU track. Averaged around 6:00/mile during tempo, half of which was uphill. I was feeling good, which I was thankful for, since I hate doing track workouts when I'm tired, as they are mentally difficult as it is. The intervals went well too. They were 3:13, 3:15, 3:13, 3:15, 3:13, 3:08. My goal pace was 3:15 (5:12/mile pace), so I hit that. The last interval I opened it up a little bit on the last 600m. HR averaged in the mid-170s for the intervals, and peaked at 184 on the last one. It definitely doesn't tick like it used to...

Ran up through campus after the intervals, and then down to the mouth of Logan Canyon on Hwy 89, and back on Canyon Rd and the canal trail.

Ave HR for entire run 154. Ave pace for entire run 6:45/mile.

(Adrenaline orange: 219 miles)

Jogged around the block with the dog, and then did a long run from my house to the end of the river trail and back (Guiveva Malibu campground) with Jon, James, Dan, Cody, and Mark. We had a big group and beat up some cub scouts here and there. Overall pace averaged around 8:00/mile, but the last mile we did in 6:10 or so just for fun. Didn't feel great today, but got the distance in.

90 miles this week (most since '04), upper 80's scheduled for the next two weeks.

(Cascadia: 70 miles)

Travel day to El Centro, CA for work. Flew out of SLC into San Diego at 8AM. Had brunch (it's a combination of breakfast and lunch, and comes with a piece of melon, you'll love it...), then drove over to beautiful El Centro. Piddled around for a few hours getting the conference room ready and touching up powerpoints. Finally got out for a run around 6:30PM, and easy 6-miler along the canals with Bryan (guy on project team who happens to be a pretty good runner). Did I mention that El Centro is 100 ft below sea level? Ah, oxygen. The run felt pretty good despite all the travel and a brutal headwind from the west. Hopefully I can get some decent runs in on Monday and Tuesday. It's pretty much damage-control on business trips like this, a getting in a 10-miler is bonus. We'll see...

Day 2 in El Centro. Did a 6AM 10-miler with Bryan along the canals south of time. Beautiful morning, as far as Imperial Valley goes, shorts and t-shirt weather. This place is a flat as a pancake, and has bad air to boot, thanks to all the bovine universities and Mexicali to the south. But the dirt canal access roads make for some decent running. Don't have any idea of pace, but the Bryan and I agreed that the last half of it felt like sub-7 pace.

(Adrenaline orange: 235 miles

Only had time for 7 miles this morning (Day 3 in El Centro). The rest of the day was filled with non-stop meetings, tutorials, and travel. I'll be glad to be home tomorrow. It took about half the run to wake up this morning, but then Bryan was game for doing a little "brisk" pace on the way back, so we did a few miles at 6:20/mile pace.

(Adrenaline orange: 242 miles)

Got up at 4:30AM and flew out of San Diego back to Logan. Slept the entire flight. Then slept for the entire shuttle ride home. Then crawled into bed and slept for 3 hours. Finally got around to going for a run around 5PM, and fortunately the rain and snow had cleared up to sun.

I did a tinman tempo today on the Millville Hills loop. My legs felt pretty bad the entire run, and I knew I was in for a long day when my HR was in the upper 140s at 7:00-pace (about 10bpm high). Still, I managed to average 6:03/mile pace for the 8-mile tempo, which has a lot of long hills. Ave HR for the tempo was 169, and maxed at 181 on one of the long uphills. Ave pace for entire run was 6:23/mile and ave HR was 162. Floundered through 4x100m strides at the end of the workout. I'm glad I got the workout in, but hope very much I get the trip out of me and feel better tomorrow.

(Adrenaline orange: 256 miles)

AM - easy 4.5 to end of paved river trail and back, with jog around the block with the dog.

(Adrenaline yellow: 486 miles)

PM - 10.5 miles out to climbing wall on River Trail and back, via canal trail. Felt okay, probably 7:00/mile pace or so.

(Adrenaline black: 426 miles)

AM - Easy 6 miles - landfill loop plus around the block with the dog. SI was stiff for the first mile or so, then loosened up. Felt okay during run. Kind of a blah week so far.

(Adrenaline orange: 262 miles)

PM - 9.5 miles or so with James. We ran out to Logan Canyon and just on the Pipeline Trail and took it to the end, then came back on the river trail and the canal trail. I've haven't done the Pipeline in a couple years, so it was fun to get out on it.

(Adrenaline yellow: 496 miles -- retired!)

Long run with James and Cody. We drove up to the mouth of Blacksmith Fork Canyon and ran 9 miles up, averaging around 7:15/mile. When we turned around, I did some MP and LT intervals, using the TOU mileposts. 2 miles at MP (11:20), 1 mile at LT (5:15), 2 miles at MP (11:10), 1 mile at LT (5:30). Two minutes rest between each interval. A headwind picked up over the course of the workout, which slowed things down a little, but not too bad. I then  rejoined Cody and James, and we did 6:30 pace the rest of the way down the canyon, including 6:10 for the last mile. It felt pretty decent, as far as long runs go, and I'm glad I did some faster running during it. 6:45/mile pace for the entire run. Ave HR 152 for the entire run, upper 170s during the intervals (181 max).

(Adrenaline blue: 20 miles) 

Day off. 

Congrats to all those who ran SLC races this weekend! 

AM - 4.5 miles to end of paved river trail and back, plus some running with the dog. Did 6x100m strides. Felt pretty good, as far as morning runs go.

(Adrenaline black: 430 miles)

PM - 11 miles - Pipeline trail out-and-back with Jon. Good run. Easy pace. Ave HR was 133, which is quite low, especially for an evening run. It sank into the upper 120s at times. I guess that means that my stroke volume is increasing or something like that. I view it as a positive.

(Adrenaline orange: 273 miles)

Met Cody at 6AM and then ran from my house up to the USU track, where we met James. I ended up doing 6x1000m at CV pace, with 1:00 rest between intervals (200m). I was hoping to get in 8 intervals, but I knew when I started feeling some burn in my legs on the 6th interval, it was time to call it quits, as the workout is supposed to be completely aerobic. No sense in putting myself in the tank if I am already in the tank. I wanted 3:15's, and ended up 3:15, 3:17, 3:17, 3:16, 3:17, 3:17. HR during intervals averaged in the low-to-mid 170s, and peaked at 181. This was a little bit slower than the same workout I did two weeks ago; I just couldn't seem to get going or find a proper pace. Perhaps part of this is due to the early morning workout (I usually do afternoons), but I think it is mostly due to increase and mileage and some accumulated fatigue. But that is part of marathon training, right? I can say this, though, I am already looking forward to tapering! Only two more weeks of hard training...

Cooled down several miles with Cody and James, then took the dog out for his morning jog. A good quality day, all things considered. Beautiful morning too.

I fly to the Twin Cities for a training class later today, so I'll get some more low-elevation running tomorrow and Thursday. Maybe that will help my recovery. I should have a lot more time to run this trip, as I won't be with anyone or have anything else to do in the mornings and evenings. Hopefully I can find a nice trail along the Mississippi River to run along.

(Adrenaline blue: 33 miles) 

AM - 5 miles through the mean streets of Eagan, MN. Actually the entire run was on bike paths; Eagan is full of them. It's a very nice town. Near my turn around point, I found a paved trail system, and took that for a half mile before I had to come back. It was a gorgeous morning and a great morning run. Sometimes I miss the midwest. The terrain here is quite rolling, but the low altitude makes the hills a lot easier, as I could hold sub-7 pace uphill and keep my HR at 140 or so. Coming back was definitely a lot faster, and hit sub-6:30-pace for some stretches. HR in the 120s on downhills. All in all, it was a very enjoyable run, as far as mornings go. I look forward to running again this evening for a bit longer. Ave HR 133. Ave pace 6:55/mile.

(Adrenaline orange: 278 miles)

PM - 9 miles, exploring more of the Eagan trails. After sitting in a GIS web server training session all day, I was quite ready to run. SI was a bit sore from all the sitting, but felt okay during the run. I love these rolling hills out here. Averaged 6:30/mile for the run, HR in upper 140s. Mmmm...oxygen!

(Adrenaline black: 439 miles)

Easy 9 miles this morning. I explored more of Eagan, this time running down a road named "Wildnerness Run Road". Sounded good to me, and it was. I was actually on a bike trail the whole time, since that's all they have here. It's amazing; this town has been planned very well. Trails and parks everyone you go, and the traffic and big box stores were mysteriously missing. Certain Utah towns should take note (Logan, I'm looking at you). Felt pretty good this morning, but slower than my last couple runs. Did 6x100m strides on the way back. Average pace 7:09/mile, average HR 137.

(Adrenaline orange: 287 miles)

Nice easy run with Jon. I'm not sure of pace, but it actually felt pretty good. 30k tomorrow.

(Adrenaline black: 446 miles)

Striders 30K today. I was little concerned about this race, since I have been traveling so much and since it is only three weeks before the marathon. I was concerned about how much fatigue I had from traveling, and also worried about depleting myself too much. At the same time, I wanted to retain my standings in striders circuit, and get some good LDR circuit points as well. In order to achieve all these goals, this race would have to go out slow and be more about tactics than all-out effort.

It was an absolutely beautiful morning, about 50 degrees, sunny, and no wind at the start. It would get to be pretty warm later in the day, but I was pretty sure heat wouldn't be an issue during my race itself. So optimal conditions.

The course is an out-and-back semi-loop, so no net elevation change. But the terrain is rolling and has a long gradual uphill and subsequent downhill in the three miles adjacent to the turnaround. Combined with the elevation (~5000ft), it is not a fast course, but compared to the 5k, 10k, and 10-miler earlier in the series, it is not too difficult either.

The start line was a lot thinner than the other WRC races. A lot of familiar races were missing. From the gun, it was me, Bob, Steve, and Sasha. Pace started very slow (5:50-ish), and gradually inched up each mile, until we were doing 5:20's on the gradual downhill until the turnoff to go around Pineview Reservoir. Sasha dropped around Mile 9, right before the turnaround, so it was just me, Bob, and Steve from there on. On the rolling hills we did 5:30s for a while. Although the pace felt conversational during the first half of the race, I was laboring a lot more by this point, and no one else was talking much either.

Bob put in a surge around Mile 14 that dropped Steve and I pretty quick. I didn't have willpower to go with him, and stayed with Steve. I thought at first we just slowed down, but we were still 5:30 that mile, so Bob must have thrown a 5:20 or so. Bob seemed to have stabilized about 15 seconds ahead of us, but neither Steve nor I were making any moves to fill that gap. I was just trying to finish the race at that point, not feeling particularly great. I think the 5:20s earlier took a bit out of me.

Around Mile 16, Bob's calf went out and he pulled up, so it was just Steve and I to the finish. I still wasn't feeling great, but at the same time the pace slowed to 5:45. It was playing out to be a tactical finish. Most of the tactics were going on in my own head, as two different voices kept trying to tell me what to do. "Slow down more, ease in and take 2nd (which is good enough, after all). Save it for the marathon," said one voice. The other said, "Win the darn race. $25 extra is worth it, and the LDR points are major as well. Quit slacking!"

This basic conversation went on in my head for the next two miles, and in the meantime I sat behind Steve and just tried to stay on him. Finally we hit the 18-mile mark, and I thought, "Nuts to these voices! I'm just gonna go!" I let my body over (since my mind wasn't doing me any good), and went into 1000m interval mode, kicking the last 0.65 miles very hard. Steve didn't go with, and I ended up in 1st. Steve was 2nd and Sasha came in 3rd. I was very impressed with how Steve ran, especially considering he ran a marathon the week before! I think he could have just kept going and finished a marathon under 2:30 today.

It was a very good overall race, and I met my goals. I don't think I gassed myself by any means, but still did some very hard running and got some fast splits, which is good for both the body and mind. It was an interesting race, since it was rather tactical, and we got more surges and pace variations than in most of the other WRC races. I need to obviously work on some of my mental dialog, but it did come through in the end, so I can't complain too much. It's just frustrating (and amusing) how my mind plays so many games with me at times.

1	5:50
2	5:54
3	5:46
4	5:42
5	5:43
6	?? - watch malfunction
7	?? - watch malfunction
8	5:50
9	5:41
10	5:35
11	5:24
12	5:21
13	5:33
14	5:21
15	5:35
16	5:31
17	5:45
18	5:48
0.65	3:21

(Burn: 131 miles)

Nice easy 3 miler before lunch. My legs feel pretty decent after the 30k yesterday. Hamstrings are bit tight, and there is some general fatigue, but my calves and ankles do not feel "pounded" like they often do after races. Good sign.

(Adrenaline blue: 36 miles)

AM - Easy 4.5 miles, out-and-back on paved river trail, plus a block with the dog. Feel pretty good.

(Adrenaline black: 451 miles)

PM - 8-mile loop through Providence with Jon. Hot.

(Adrenaline orange: 295 miles)

Jogged a block with the dog, then ran from my house to the canal trail to the Bonneville Shoreline Trail to Green Canyon, up Green Canyon to the end of the single-track, and then back home the same way. I tried to keep the pace honest and work the hills a little, but wasn't really looking for a killer workout today, just some good distance and some hills. Did 6x100m strides in the middle of the run, the last 3 as hill surges on the Bonneville Trail. I measured out the route to best of my ability on G-Maps, and figured I averaged about 7:30/mile. I feel pretty much recovered from the race on Saturday.

(Adrenaline blue: 50 miles)

AM - 6.5 miles with Cody (canal trail loop) and then 0.5 miles with dog. Pace varied between 7:00 to 7:30/mile. SI is a bit irritated, but I see the chiro this evening.

(Adrenaline black: 458 miles)

PM - Easy run with James and Jon. Talked about kicking dogs for most of the run.

(Adrenaline orange: 302 miles)

Raining buckets this morning, plus my legs felt like lead weights when I got out of bed, so I waited until about 5PM to run. My body is usually a bit more charged up by then, plus it had stopped raining (mostly). Today was my last Big Workout before the marathon (Big Workouts = hard workout that lasts over an hour and a half, usually 14-16 miles total). The workout today was 4-3-2-1 miles at MP, with 2:00 rest in between, so 10 miles at MP total. I ran from my office to Mile 24 of the TOU course and started the workout, running backward on the TOU course to Mile 18, and then turning around and coming back. I used the mile markers to get pace, although I'd miss one here or there. All my splits were in between 5:30-5:40/mile, which I was pretty happy with, considering how I felt this morning. Good workout.

(Adrenaline blue: 65 miles)

Easy recovery day. Once again I waited until it stopped raining, so weather was pretty good for running: cool and calm. Did the landfill loop via paved river trail. SI is still irritated.

(Adrenaline orange:  310 miles)

Boy, I'm glad today's run is over with. Mid-30s for temperature, wind, and snow. Gotta love that spring weather! Today was my last long run before Ogden, and we did virtually all of it on trail. It was not very fast, but we were out there for awhile. 18 miles in 2:30 or 2:35 or so. 8:30/mile pace, or something like that. James, Cody, and I met at the canal trailhead and ran the canal trail, then jumped on the Bonneville Trail, and then up Green Canyon. We went all the way up Green to the single track, and then almost a mile on the single track until it was time to turn around. Well over 1500 ft of net climbing. Coming down, we had a nasty headwind, and the snow picked up as well, to the pount where we were getting substantial accumulation, not only on the ground but also on our faces. Yuck! Once we got out of Green Canyon and back on the Bonneville trail, the wind died down a little, and so did the snow. It's as though Green Canyon had its own little microclimate today. I didn't feel particulary great today, and we were pretty miserable, but I was happy to get in the miles and complete my training clycle properly. Now it's time for a taper! 85 miles this week. 60-65 next week, and 30 the week of the marathon (plus the marathon). I'm looking forward to feeling fresh again. I've felt worn down the last couple weeks from the mileage. I don't know how you 100-mile/week guys do it...

(Cascadia: 88 miles)

Ran out-and-back on paved river trail nice and easy. Beautiful day. My legs feel better today than the last few days, so maybe they just needed a long, slow 18-miler in the snow to revitalize them.

(Adrenaline blue:  69 miles)

AM - easy 4.5 miles to end of paved river trail and back, then a block with the dog. Did 3x100m strides. Everything felt pretty good.

(Adrenaline black: 455 miles)

PM - easy 6.5 miles. Ran up the Center Street hill and turned off into River Heights, then into Providence. Stopped at the gym to eat pizza, lift a few weights, and cancel my membership, then continued home. Did 3x100m strides in the middle of the run. Average pace for run was 6:53/mile.

(Adrenaline orange: 316 miles)

Gorgeous sunny day up here in Cache Valley. My legs got spring fever and were in the mood for a strong aerobic run. Did the North Logan-USU loop in 65 minutes (6:30/mile). LT intervals tomorrow.

(Adrenaline blue: 79 miles)

5x1600m repeats at Logan High track today, LT pace. Great temperature to run at 6AM, plus no wind, so ideal for a good workout. I felt pretty decent, especially after the first few intervals. Cody showed up and ran with me on the 4th interval, during my first and last lap. Having someone there to run alongside me got me going a lot faster, and "primed" my engine for the last interval too. Interval splits were 5:18, 5:18, 5:19, 5:11, 5:11. Ironically, the 5:11's felt easier than the first three. 1 lap rest between intervals (2:00)

Cooled down a couple laps then did about three miles at 6:15-6:20 pace, then cooled down more with the dog. Good workout.

(Burn: 143 miles)

Ran up to the USU track from home, where I met Cody and James. Cody was going to make his sub-5:00 mile attempt, and James and I were going to pace him. Did a few strides, and then we started the time trial. Since I did an interval workout yesterday, I just paced Cody for the 1st and 3rd laps. My first 400 was a high 73. My second 400 (the 3rd lap of the 1600m) was a 75, so right on pace. They felt pretty good. Cody ended up at 5:00.00 for his 1600m, a 3-second PR.

Ran back home afterward and then did a block with the dog.

(Adrenaline blue: 88 miles)

Ran at noon from my office. It was pretty hot out, but I enjoyed a good sweat. Did the Landfill Loop. Legs were feeling good and wanted to do 6:20 miles, so I let them. Did 6x100m barefoot strides in the grass at LHS near the end.

(Adrenaline black: 461 miles)

Started at Dry Canyon and ran the Bonneville/Deerfence Trail down to Blacksmith Fork Canyon and back. It's about a 14-mile out-and-back. I used to call this route "18 miles", but that was back in the day before Garmins and G-Maps. This was one of my two "long runs" before the Ogden Marathon in 2003. Now it's one of my taper runs. My, how technology and better information changes things. Hopefully I will do better this year in Ogden than I did in 2003 (2:43:46). Twenty minutes faster would be nice.

The cows are out in the section between Millville Canyon and Blacksmith Fork. None of them got aggressive on me, but I did have to jump over their dung, plus the trail was badly trampled (rolled my ankle a couple times). I would consider becoming 100% vegetarian and dairy-free if it would get rid of all the cattle on my favorite running routes....

Legs are feeling good. It's been a couple years since I've done this full route, but the rolling hills seem a lot easier than before. I think all those Ogden races helped. Run took about 1:52:00 or so. Probably about 8:00/mile, a good pace for me considering the difficulty of the trail. Nice day.

66 miles for the week. The taper intensifies next week...

(Cascadia: 102 miles)

Day off.

AM - Got up early, ran a mile with 4x100m striders, and did a short track workout - 2x1600m @10K pace, with 1 lap rest (2 minutes). Intervals were 5:02 and 5:01. Everything felt pretty smooth and sharp, with fast recovery. Cooled down a couple miles. Will go a few more miles this evening.

(Burn: 149 miles)

PM - Did canal trail loop (6.5 miles) after work, then another half mile with the dog. 6:40/mile pace for the run.

I had a teammate back in college who always used to say it "hurts to run slow" when you're starting to peak. I think I'm getting near that point. Starting to get very excited for the marathon.

(Adrenaline black: 468 miles)

Easy 7-ish mile run in the afternoon. No watch. Need to adjust to heat to get ready for Ogden...

(Adrenaline orange: 323 miles)

Did the landfill loop, with a 5:45 tempo mile in the middle. Felt only so-so on the tempo. Near the end of the run, I stopped at the LHS rec fields and did 4x200m barefoot strides in the grass (34, 34, 34, 33). After the striders, I felt much better and much smoother. It's funny how barefoot strides always seem to do that. I think they help get the biomechanics in sync or something.

(Adrenaline blue: 94 miles)

Easy run with Cody on paved river trail.

(Adrenaline black: 473 miles)

For anyone interested, I've posted a map, profile, and discussion about the Ogden Marathon course on my personal blog.

********************************************* 

Slept in until 7AM, and then jogged out to LHS rec fields and did a couple easy barefoot striders in the grass. Jogged back home, and did a few blocks with the dog. The temperature is alarmingly warm for 7AM.

I just got another week increase in vacation, so will use a few hours this afternoon so that I can relax, lounge around, and take it easy before we head to Ogden. Also scheduled for a quick stop at the chiro for a final tune-up this afternoon. Will get a haircut as well, to make me more aerodynamic. So many pre-race preparations...

(Adrenaline orange: 325 miles)

Ogden Marathon. My watch completely died on me this afternoon, so I can't get at my mile splits, but I'll do the best I can off my memory. Here goes.

Cody, Dan, James, and I stayed at James' inlaws in Willard, so we had about a 15-minute drive to the race busing area. Weather in Ogden at 5AM was pleasant, but too warm for 5AM. T-shirt and shorts were comfortable. Fortunately, once we bused up 1200' in elevation to the start line, the air was much more brisk, and good running conditions. No wind either. However, the temps in Ogden served as bad omen for what it would be like during the last few miles.

The start line featured pretty much everyone I expected, so no big surprises there. After a false start, the race finally started for real, pretty much on-time. The first mile was slow, too slow: 5:42. I wanted 5:30s for the first 8 miles, which is a nice, fast, 1% grade downhill. So I sped up and no one sped up with me; I was all alone, and footsteps faded within a mile. My next 7 mile splits were pretty much all at 5:28. Seriously, it was weird, I was just locked into 5:28 until the downhill ended and we turned to go around Pineview.

Everything was feeling good, and it felt like I had build a decent lead, so I decided to to maintain the same effort on the rolling hills around Pineview Reservoir. Same effort = slower pace, but I was fine with this, as I assumed everyone behind me would slow down too. Sure enough, my 5:28's turned into 5:40s. I wanted to hold this until Mile 17 or so, when the course veers downhill again. I hoped to even- or negative-split the race. Went through the half marathon in exactly 1:13:00. This was right where I wanted to be, especially given the warmer temps. Still no headwind of any sort, which was good. I was afraid when I broke away and went solo that I might hang myself out to dry if there was any sort of headwind, but so far so good. I could tell by the roar of the crowd that the next runners were about 2:00 behind me. This is good; if I can maintain for the rest of rolling section and then go back to sub-5:30s on the downhill part, I doubted that anyone would catch me.

Did another 5:40, and then came to the only hill worth noting on the course. It is a decent climb, but nothing like Vejo; not too steep or too long. However, I had been experiencing mild stomach cramping for a little while, and it suddenly got a bit worse, to the point where it was slowing me down. I tried some breathing exercises, but the only thing that helped was grabbing my gut with my hand. Not an effective way to run a marathon. This resulted in a 6:10 mile and me walking through the next aid station. I knew that if I couldn't get back on track soon, my race was going south. It was frustrating because my legs still felt good. Walking through the aid station and taking a good amount of water seemed to help. I think my stomach was just upset from too much sugar from the Gu and PowerAid, and the water helped dilute it. In any case, after a bit more deep breathing exercises, I had worked the cramp out completely, and was rolling full-tilt again my Mile 17.

The course resumed a big downhill starting right before Mile 18, as it winds down Ogden Canyon (1.8% downhill gradient). Mile 18 was 5:28 again, which made me laugh a little. I can't remember all my splits, but most were 5:30 or under, with a 5:20 as the fastest. My quads were feeling fatigued by Mile 20, but the rest of my systems still felt good. I wasn't breathing hard, I wasn't dehydrated, and I didn't feel glycogen-depleted. Quite a bit of general fatigue, but I could mentally focus through it. At Mile 20, I mentally turned the race into a 10K, and then mentally turned it into a 5K at Mile 23. I was drinking quite a bit of water and PowerAid at aid stations, but was dousing my head and body with even greater amounts of water. This kept me wet and cool between aid stations, and also shocked my nervous system from the sudden cold, and caused me to increase my pace.

Ogden Canyon spit me out onto the Ogden River Parkway (a paved bike trail) around Mile 23. At this point I was smelling the barn enough to get excited about finishing strong, plus kept trying whatever I could think of to give me adrenaline surges and internal encouragement. I was dousing myself with even more water, and then doing double-fisted slam-dunks of the paper cups into the trash bins, while grunting. Seriously. The volunteers and half marathoners I was passing must have thought I was nuts, but I was still holding 5:30/mile pace, and that's all I cared about. I knew at this point from crowd response (or lack thereof) that victory was pretty much a done deal, but I really wanted to make sure to finish the race as hard as could, and potentially PR over my old St. George time.

The Parkway segment finally ended with less than a mile to go, the course finished on the road into downtown Ogden. It's pretty much dead flat, but the building were casting good shadows, which helped keep things cool. I knew that the race ended on 25th Street, and started counting blocks. 20th Street: 1000m. 21st Street: half mile. 22nd Street: 600m. 23rd Street: 400m. At this point, the crowd was completely lining the street, and was very loud in cheering me on. That was the final bout of adrenaline I needed, and kicked it in hard, finishing the the final 400m with a good sprint, and relishing the moment. I realize that winning a race like this is nothing to take to for granted, and this particular finish is something that I will remember for a long time. What a rush!

There was an issue with the timing due to the "false start", but I'm pretty sure my final time was 2:26:24-ish, which is a good 10-second PR from St. George in 2005. I thought after the Striders Half Marathon that I might have 2:25 or 2:24 in meon the Ogden Marathon course, and I think I do, but just not with the heat and with running solo. So as far as I'm concerned, I met my time goal, got a non-St George PR, and also met another goal of breaking the course record (2:29-something). My my primary goal was simply winning the race, and to be honest, I didn't even think about my PR until the last couple miles.

So with all goals met and with the thrill of victory, I'm ecstatic with today, and am so thankful just to get to run a marathon again. A year ago, I could barely hobble, and I wasn't even sure if running competitively ever again would be an option. This marathon was a sweet way to cap off the road to recovery and finish out my first full training cycle back. I look forward to building on this and gradually adding more mileage and more training cycles. I'm not sure which fall marathon I'll do to try to get my Trials Qualifier, but for now I'm going to take a few days completely off, reverse taper, and then start a 5K-10K mesocycle to see if I can get some speed back. Then start a marathon mesocycle in late July to add more endurance to that speed.

Steve Ashbaker outleaned Joe Wilson for 2nd (and his first sub-2:30 performance!!). Neal Gasmann was 4th with somewhere under 2:32. I forget who was 5th, but Sasha was 6th (I think) with 2:32:00. So a very solid field. Other bloggers ran very very well with some long-awaited performances and PR's, but I won't steal their thunder!

(Burn: 176 miles)

Day off. Quads are very sore, hammies very tight.

Day off. Quads as sore as yesterday, hammies are less tight. Usually it takes me two days to start feeling better after a marathon, so I expect tomorrow to be better. I've definitely felt worse, in any case.

*******************

I've posted an entry on my personal blog weighing the pros and cons of running St. George vs. Chicago vs. Twin Cities as my fall OQ attempt. Read, if interested, and input is welcome.

Less sore today. Should be ready to run again tomorrow.

My legs are ready to go again (no soreness), but my body decided at exactly 3:30PM yesterday to become sick. It was amazing: one minute I felt fine, and the next minute I had a cold! The last time I was sick was last September (a benefit of not having kids), so I'm going to use a few of those 130 sick hours I've accrued (but never use) at work. This exact same thing happened after St. George in 2005. Combine a hard marathon with a little heat, and the result is a destroyed immune system, at least for me. If I improve over the day, I may do some jogging this evening, but no hurry. Rest.

PM - felt a little better, so ran the dog around the block, then ran to work and back, and then did the paved river trail. My hamstrings tightened up a little on the last part of the run, but other than that my legs felt pretty good.

(Adrenaline blue: 99 miles)