Strength for today and bright hope for tomorrow

Blacksmith Fork Freedom Run 15K

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Location:

Fort Collins,CO,

Member Since:

May 15, 2003

Gender:

Male

Goal Type:

Local Elite

Running Accomplishments:

Unaided PR's:
5K: 14:48 (Track - 2001)
10K: 30:45 (Track - 2001)
10K: 31:32 (Bolder Boulder - 2013)
Half Marathon: 1:06:09 (Duluth - 2013)
Marathon: 2:17:54 (Grandma's) - 2014)
Marathon: 2:19:47 (Indianapolis Monumental - 2013)
Marathon: 2:19:49 (Indianapolis Monumental - 2010)

Aided PR's:
10K: 29:38 (Des News - 2011)
Half Marathon: 1:05:30 (TOU Half - 2011)
Marathon: 2:18:09 (St George - 2007)
Marathon: 2:17:35 (Boston - 2011)

Short-Term Running Goals:

Diagnosed with Ankylosing Spondylitis in June of 2008. Started taking Enbrel in March, 2009.

Run as much as I can, and race as well as I can. Make the most of however much time I have left as an able-bodied runner.

Training for the 2018 Colorado Marathon

Long-Term Running Goals:

  Run until I'm old, and then run some more. Stand tall.

Personal:

1 wife, 2 kids. 1 cat. Work as a GIS Specialist/Map Geek

Endure and persist; this pain will turn to your good. - Ovid

Therefore, since we have been justified through faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have gained access by faith into this grace in which we now stand. And we rejoice in the hope of the glory of God. Not only so, but we also rejoice in our sufferings, because we know that suffering produces perseverance; perseverance, character; and character, hope. And hope does not disappoint us, because God has poured out his love into our hearts by the Holy Spirit, whom he has given us. - Romans 5:1-5

 

 

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Miles:This week: 0.00 Month: 0.00 Year: 0.00
Saucony Trail Shoe Lifetime Miles: 247.50
Hoka Clifton Lifetime Miles: 491.50
Saucony Type A6 Lifetime Miles: 186.50
Saucony Zealot Lifetime Miles: 478.75
Saucony Kinvara 6 Lifetime Miles: 433.50
Saucony Kinvara 6-2 Lifetime Miles: 358.75
Brooks Pure Connect Blue Lifetime Miles: 337.25
New Balance Trainers Lifetime Miles: 314.50
New Balance 1400 Racers Lifetime Miles: 65.00
Brook Pureflow Lifetime Miles: 99.50
Easy MilesMarathon Pace MilesThreshold MilesVO2 Max MilesCrosstraining milesTotal Miles
64.205.009.302.000.0080.50
Brooks Adrenaline 10 Miles: 5.75Brooks Adrenaline 10 Green Miles: 17.00Saucony Kinvara Miles: 13.00New Balance 790 Miles: 4.00Brooks Launch Miles: 10.00Saucony Tangent Miles: 4.50Saucony Guide TR Miles: 7.25
Easy MilesMarathon Pace MilesThreshold MilesVO2 Max MilesCrosstraining milesTotal Miles
14.250.000.000.000.0014.25

AM - Birch Creek with Carson. 7:26/mile average pace for 8.5 miles.

PM - Forrester Acres after dinner with Seth. Hot out. 5.75 miles, no watch.

Brooks Adrenaline 10 Miles: 5.75Brooks Adrenaline 10 Green Miles: 8.50
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Easy MilesMarathon Pace MilesThreshold MilesVO2 Max MilesCrosstraining milesTotal Miles
6.005.000.002.000.0013.00

Met Carson at Mack Park and then we head out on the Bear River - Benson Loop. We did 5 miles worth of tempo, at about 5:35-5:40 pace. Then we recovered for about 3 minutes and did 10x1-minute fartlek, with 1-minute recovery jogs. Intervals were at about 5K pace, but were generally uphill. About 5:00-5:05 pace on these, according to the garmin, which you have to take with a grain of salt. I got the idea for this workout off of McMillans article in Running Times this month. Rather than doing repeat 400s on the track, he has some of his "slower-twitch" runners just stick to the road and not worry about cranking as much. I thought it would be a good way to work on turnover, economy, and form, without going through the rigors and mental agony of track intervals. Basically they were glorified strides. Ended up averaging 6:16/mile for 13 miles.

Saucony Kinvara Miles: 13.00
Comments(1)
Easy MilesMarathon Pace MilesThreshold MilesVO2 Max MilesCrosstraining milesTotal Miles
14.000.000.000.000.0014.00

AM - canal trail, 4 miles, no watch.

PM - ran home from work. Stopped at the dentist office after two miles, had an appointment, then stop at a park in North Logan for water at about 5 miles. It was hot out. Averaged 6:46/mile for 10 miles.

New Balance 790 Miles: 4.00Brooks Launch Miles: 10.00
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Easy MilesMarathon Pace MilesThreshold MilesVO2 Max MilesCrosstraining milesTotal Miles
13.000.000.000.000.0013.00

AM - Smithfield Canyon, 8.5 miles, averaging 7:03/mile. It's my birthday.

PM - Hillside-Summit loop with Seth. Hot out.

Saucony Tangent Miles: 4.50Brooks Adrenaline 10 Green Miles: 8.50
Comments(14)
Easy MilesMarathon Pace MilesThreshold MilesVO2 Max MilesCrosstraining milesTotal Miles
7.250.000.000.000.007.25

Canal trail. Did a few strides.

Saucony Guide TR Miles: 7.25
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Race: Blacksmith Fork Freedom Run 15K (9.32 Miles) 00:47:50, Place overall: 1
Easy MilesMarathon Pace MilesThreshold MilesVO2 Max MilesCrosstraining milesTotal Miles
9.700.009.300.000.0019.00

Ran the Blacksmith Fork Freedom Run today, a rare 15K race. I got up a little before 5AM, ate breakfast, and then grabbed my flats and jogged down to Carson's house for about a 2-mile pre-warmup warmup. Then we all carpooled with Carson's brother and sister, and one of their friends.

Got to the start line around 6:10, so plenty of time. We warmed up by running two miles up the canyon, and then back down, so 4 miles total. Perhaps it was too much pre-race running (6 miles total), but I needed the mileage more than the race.

Weather was pretty good. Nice and cool at the start line, maybe around 50 degrees. Didn't see any wind while driving up the canyon, so I was not counting on the famous Blacksmith Fork tailwind. Oh well. Managed one good portapot stop, and then it was time for the race to start. Narnia did not exist this year. Actually, the two portapots were there, but the race portapots were not in front of them, so they were exposed for the whole world to see. The magic was gone. But I used them anyway.

They actually started on time, which was great compared to last year. They were really ready for the crowd this year. I took it out pretty hard the first mile. My top-tier goal was to run around 46:00, which would be 15:20 per 5K, and about 4:57/mile. A tough goal, but I split pretty close to that at Utah Valley!

First mile was 4:58, but I knew it wasn't happening. Was working too hard and breathing too hard. The little tiny rollers in the canyon felt like big hills, and the downhills didn't feel big enough. My running felt uncoordinated, like I was lumbering rather than smoothly gliding. In other words, I was feeling pretty flat. But from taking it out hard, I was by myself from the gun, and it stayed that way to the finish.

I thought perhaps it would get better, but the race rolled by pretty much the same the whole. I mean, it wasn't terrible or anything, in fact it was pretty decent, but my last race was UVM, so I think I was expecting to feel like that again. Mile 2 was 5:04, then 5:06 for Mile 3. 5K was probably about 15:40.

Miles 4-6 were more of the same. Still on the downhill, but indeed we did not get a canyon wind today. In fact we picked up a slight headwind by the middle of the race and stayed through the end. Nothing major, but you notice it when you're trying to race into it. 5:06, 5:02, and 5:14 for Miles 4-6. Not sure what happen on Mile 6, probably the headwind picking up. 10K split was probably about 31:40. Waayyy slower than UVM. I think I've decided that Provo Canyon is quite a bit faster than Blacksmith Fork, though.

The end of mile 7 is the big hill of the course. Tried to work the hill, and hit 5:19 for the split. The first bit of mile 8 is uphill too, and then it's pretty flat. 5:22 for mile 8. By now I was out in the sun, but thankfully it stayed quite cool out, and was still great temperatures for racing. Mile 9 is downhill, with a really sweet downhill at the end of the mile as you approach downtown Hyrum. 5:09 for Mile 9. Then the last 0.3 to the finish was 1:29, as I tried to pick it up some.

My "official" finish time was 47:50. The timing mat was not turned on yet, so we used one of the race official's watch time, which matched mine pretty well. So it's all good. I definitely expected to run faster and to feel smoother, but I'm grateful to win the race, and to break 48-minutes, which is a nice barrier at the 15K distance (3xsub-16 5K's in a row). So it was a course best and a 15K PR, and a win. Gotta take it! Josh Steffen was 2nd and Kevin Dickey was 3rd. Carson was 4th. Official times were kind of mixed up for the top people, so hopefully everyone kept a watch time.

After the race I cooled down another 4 miles with Carson and his brother Todd. We ran up the course, and about 12 different people told us, "Hey, you're going the wrong way!" Each person thought they were being original. I usually told them that we had to go back because I left my windows down. The cooldown gave me 19 miles total for the day.

Stayed around for the awards and the raffle. I didn't win anything in the raffle, but the prize for 1st overall was a very cool pottery bowl. It's extremely huge. Not sure what I'll do with it, but it's unique and one of the nicer prizes I've won.

So it was a beautiful day and a nice day to race. Met some new people, saw a lot of bloggers (especially at Scott's pre-race BBQ yesterday, which was a great time), and got a little sun. A successful Saturday.

Comments(16)
Easy MilesMarathon Pace MilesThreshold MilesVO2 Max MilesCrosstraining milesTotal Miles
64.205.009.302.000.0080.50
Brooks Adrenaline 10 Miles: 5.75Brooks Adrenaline 10 Green Miles: 17.00Saucony Kinvara Miles: 13.00New Balance 790 Miles: 4.00Brooks Launch Miles: 10.00Saucony Tangent Miles: 4.50Saucony Guide TR Miles: 7.25
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