What ever it takes!

10 miles at 4:00 this morning so I could be to the Salt Palace by 6:00am to start working.

Progressive 8.5 with followed by 7 x Speed intervals.  12.1,12.2....12.7mph.

Well, yesterday was crazy and there was just no way to get a run in.  We worked from 6:00am to 10:00pm at the Salt Palace, and I was very grumpy by the end of the day.  I told my crew to not come in until 8:00 today, they thought I was being nice but really I just wanted to get a run in today.  Yesterdays run called for an 18 miler with 12 at MP.  Today's replacement run was 16 miles and an 8 mile MP run on the Downtown SLC Marriott treadmill.  I actually had time to get 18 in but a guy got on the treadmill next to me that really needed deodorant, and when your trying to run a tempo run bad smells are just not good,  Plus I wanted time to go jump in the pool and hot tub.  I'm OK with the run, we probably walk about 12 - 13 miles a day at work so I don't want to end up getting hurt.

16 miles in 1:49:30.  6:50 total avg pace.     8 mile tempo was in 51:15 6:24 avg.

10 miles on the hotel treadmill, 8 x speed thingys to finish off.  The treadmill caped out at 12.5mph.

I figure it's March, I have 3 weeks of hard training left, it's about time to start weaning myself from the treadmill.  It's done a fabulous job getting me back in shape but now it's time to hit the ground running :-).

Started at 4:30 am, decided to wear shorts, I did wear compression socks to keep my shins warm though, no one likes cold shins.  Ran from the Marriott up to the U, up Sunnyside to the Zoo and then basically just followed the last 10 miles of the Des. News course.  It was really hard, very nice morning but really cold running up Sunnyside into a cold headwind.  I was pretty hammered by the end, and glad it was done.

15 miles in 1:52:43 7:30 avg pace.

OK, I'll stop running on treadmills after this conference is over :)

10 miles slow, except the last one I ran in 6:12 and defeated the whole purpose of my first 9 recovery miles.

10 miles in 1:18:03 7:48 avg pace

This workout was really hard and I probably should have skipped it, work is tearing me up this week.  Very long hours, and lots of stress.   Scott Keate came and found me and said hi which was cool, I was walking around with my boss who came to see what I do for a living so I couldn't talk to Scott much, I asked if he was going to the Concert and he said no he had to wake up at 5:00am to go running.  Maybe that's why he's faster than me cause I went to the concert and woke up at 4:15 to go running.

5 miles in 41:10 8:14 avg pace, Followed by an "LT" Tempo run.

7 miles in 44:28 6:21 avg pace.  I wanted it to be faster but I was seriously just beat up and didn't think it was a good idea.  6:20 pace was hard enough.

Nice spring morning run this morning. We got done with the conference from Hell last night and I got to come home and sleep in my own bed.  Slept in until 6:30, put on my trail running shoes, shorts and a long sleeve T.  ran my original 10 miler out around the Highland Smiths and back, I ran on gravel the entire way, the new Murdock trail is really nice cause they put in a horse/trail runner lane the entire way. I figured it would be muddy with patches of snow, but it was pretty dry the entire way.  Pretty easy pace just enjoying myself and pleased to be on break for a while.

Long miserable run with Ryan and Jeff through Lehi, American Fork, Cedar Hills and Highland. We had cold, we had hills, and lots and lots and lots if wind. The only thing that made it better for me was knowing I wasn't quite as miserable as Ryan :)

Glad to get it done, and glad to have my longest Pre-marathon run in the bag.

Feeling pretty sleep deprived for some reason this morning, didn't make for a great run.  Plus I thought my hamstring issues were through but my long run on Saturday showed me different,  towards the end of the run it was really acting up on some of the hills, I felt like I was going to cramp up if I stopped. 

Anyway, today called for 5 X 800's at 5K pace, I thought since my 5K pace is about the same as my marathon pace I should try and make them a little bit harder and shoot for 1/2 marathon pace instead.  They were pretty hard, my hamstring took a bit to stretch out and the first interval and I about quit but after that it actually felt better.

6 mile slow warm up,  5 X 800's with 1/4 mile jog, followed by a 1.75 mile cool down.

Splits for 800's ----

Interval	Time	Avg HR	Max HR
800m	2:50.83	170
800m	2:55.47	166
800m	2:51.90	167
800m	2:51.07	168
800m	2:48.05	169

Humm, my Garmin wont show me Max HR unless I upload the workout and I forgot my USB cable.  I think the highest I saw it get was 175 so not as hard an effort as my hill "sprint" 1600's the other day, but pretty decent effort.

P.M.

My wife actually came up with the answer to my doubles problem.  My sons soccer team decided to start practice today so she suggested I take him to soccer and run while waiting instead of sitting on the sideline yelling at him for not running hard enough and getting mad at his dimwhit coach.  His practice was at Lehi Jr. High which I knew had a track so I put on my running clothes and ran the track.  I had not idea how far I'd make it, and had no time monitoring device so I just ran until practice was over.  Ended up with 28 laps, in around 50ish minutes.  They are planning on practice everyday this week so it could end up being a good week for me.

Fritz e-mailed me last night and canceled our morning run citing injury prevention, I sent Scott Keate a text to see what his group was doing, they were doing 800s on the track, which I'd already attempted my 800's for the week, I sent Ryan a text and he didn't want to wake up early to run.  Sooo, you can't say I didn't try.  But I woke up and did what I do and went to the gym.

14 miles in 1:39:01 7:04 avg pace.  Progressive run, the last 5 miles were pretty quick, just under marathon pace.  Schedule said 15 this morning but at 14 I figured there was nothing more 1 mile was going to do for me this morning, plus I plan on running laps on the Jr. High track for Soccer practice again tonight.

I didn't get my afternoon run in yesterday cause I made my poor son run on the treadmill the night before.  Well, he crashed and burned on the treadmill and got scraped up really bad, knees and shins.  I feel terrible about it, but long story short, he didn't go to soccer practice last night cause he can barely walk, so I didn't run the track during practice.

I didn't feel real great this morning, my stomach is a bit sick, and my legs are just getting pretty worn down, but I really wanted to go run with the Utah County group this morning.  Met Scott, Reed, Mike, Toni, Dan for a nice 10 mile out and back run on the Murdock trail.  Perfect morning for a run, no wind, nice temps.  I could really feel the hills on my hamstring which makes me nervous.  I really need to figure out how to completely heal my hamstring without loosing fitness over the next 4 1/2 weeks.

Got my bib number for Boston yesterday.  Turns out my St. George disaster is still haunting me.  I start in Coral 5 so I figure I have about 3,500 people to pass to get my goal time.  should be fun.

8 easy miles in 1:05.  8:07 avg pace. 

I told myself I'd retire my 5th pair of Nike Free's when I got 1000 miles out of them.  Well, I hit exactly 1000 miles today so I guess I need to go to the shoe store.  I think I'll get myself some Nike Free's.  Maybe the 3.0's this time.

As my 10 year old son would say, Epic Fail, I usually reserve my epic fails for race day.  Today's workout was pretty key for me both physically and mentally.  I've been struggling a bit this week, just tired and not feeling quite right but I thought I'd be able to get through it at least, turns out I couldn't.

I remember the very first race I ran was the Canyonlands 1/2 marathon,  this was a long time ago, even before I considered myself a "runner" and I remember seeing the lead guys take off and were a 1/2 mile down the road before I even crossed the start line and I thought to myself 'Wow, those guys are going like 10mph, I wish I could run 10mph" lucky for me I didn't know they were actually going closer to 13mph.  Anyway, when I started getting serious about running my goal was to run 10 miles straight in less than 1 hour.  At the time it seemed daunting turns out it's even harder than I imagined back then.  Even in my best shape I've only accomplished it a few times.  Twice in downhill 1/2 marathons, once in a full marathon, and maybe 2-3 times on the treadmill during a workout.  I guess 10 mile LT runs just don't come up a whole lot when marathon pace is less than that.  So this year when I started training for Boston I told myself that a 10 mile run in less than 1 hour would be the indicator that I was finally back, I put the workout down twice on my calendar, once today, and again in 2 weeks.

I ran a 1 mile warmup, stopped and stretched, took a quick drink and started the run.  Decided to just run it flat 10mph instead of trying to progress, started out fine, my HR was high but I'm used to my HR surging at the beginning of a tempo, the problem was it never calmed down, usually I can get my breathing and HR under control after about 5 minutes but today I couldn't.  at 15 minutes 2.5 miles I realized it wasn't going to get easier and I just pulled the plug.  After a minute I tried to just start backup at slow marathon pace but realized after 2 miles I was probably just hurting myself more than anything so I just all together quit and went to the elliptical for 20 minutes.  Pretty disappointed, I'll give it another try in 2 weeks but for now I just need to figure out what's gone wrong with me.  More sleep I suspect would help.

One more thing that's got me down.  I have pretty much worked with my best friend since Jr. High Dave since I got out of college 20 years ago, we have worked at 3 different companies together and pretty much have always gone where the other goes.  Well, the travel finally got to him and he is going to accept another job.  I'm happy for him but it's going to be really hard for me.  I know, kind of sappy but I'm kind of in a funk right now about the whole thing.

18 miles with Ryan in 2:15, then I came home and my wife wanted to go for a run so I did another 3.5 with her.  She had to walk the hills so I put it down for an even 3.

I tried to give myself affirmative affirmation this morning that I was feeling better.  I think it worked for the most part.

10 mile progression run in 1:11:13  7:07 avg pace.  Last 3 miles in the 6:30 - 6:18 pace range.

I went to the shoe store and found the exact same shoes I was replacing on the clearance rack for $50, so I replaced my old shoes with the exact same shoe and threw the old ones in the garbage can so I wouldn't be tempted to wear them again.

Long story, but I'm going to tell it anyway.

I took my car in to get new brakes and tires yesterday morning, well at 3:00pm last night I called to see if it was done and they told me I needed new shocks as well, and that my car wouldn't be done until 7:00.  Well that did me no good since it was Britt's birthday yesterday and we were planning on going out to dinner, so I caught a ride home with a co-worker.  I could have got a ride back to work this morning with the same co-worker but that would have totally messed up my workout so I decided to man up and pull the ol' bike down.  Charged up all the batteries last night, (yes my bike has lots of batteries to charge) took it for a spin to make sure everything was working, and got out all the bike gear.

This morning the thermometer said 38 degrees, not bad for running, but biking is different.  dug up as many cold weather clothes as I could fit on and headed out.  Wasn't too bad, but in the summer going over the point of the mountain I always have a nice tail wind, this morning it was a massive headwind.  I wasn't too cold except for my fingers and toes.  I definitely need to figure that out if I ride to work in the cold again cause my toes were really miserable.  I took it pretty easy because I'm paranoid of wrecking, and going downhill fast was way to cold, but man some of those uphills kicked my butt, running fitness and biking fitness for some reason aren't the same.  I was suckin' air pretty hard going up the hill from 13th to Wasatch.  Anyway, made it to work in 1:25, I think my best time is around 1:12.  I don't feel bad about missing my run this morning at all.  I was suppose to do 1200's but really at this point is not doing a VO2 max workout really going to change my time in Boston?

Oh!  one last story.  I had no clothes stashed at work so I had to carry a backpack with clothes.  I rummaged through our closet and the best backpack I could find was Britt's hiking Camelback, problem is it's bright pink.  I asked my 9 year old if he thought people would make fun of me if I had a pink backpack.  He said "nope" I said "why not" he said "cause it's better than nuthin',  I think they would make more fun of you if you didn't have any backpack" I have the smartest kids on the planet.   I wore the pink backpack with pride.

Perfect morning run along Wasatch Blvd with Fritz, we had a great time except for him almost getting ran over crossing Wasatch.  I'm sure I slowed him down a bit but that's to be expected.  I felt pretty good, my hamstring slowed me down a bit on some of the uphill, but the downhill with a tailwind was fun.

P.M.

20 laps around the track during Bradin's soccer practice.

Good day for a recovery day at the gym.  20 minutes on the elliptical, 6 miles in 48 minutes on the treadmill, 30 minutes of weights. 1 hour drive in the snow to work.

Felt like garbage when I woke up this morning but I felt bad about my slacker day yesterday so I had to force myself to make up for it.  Took some Imodium AD and some ibubrofen. and headed to the gym.  By the time I got to the gym I was feeling quite a bit better, probably from the OD of drugs.  Ran an 8 mile progressive run, then I did 8 X speed intervals at 12.1,12.2....12.8mph.  Followed by a 2.5 mile slow cool down at 7:30pace. 

12 miles in 1:27:19, 7:16 avg pace.

I'm really having mixed feelings, part of me thinks this has been the most successful marathon buildup I've ever had, but another part of me feels like there is something missing.  I'm just not feeling as good as I have in the past, part of it I think is passion, I used to crave to run fast, I used to love the feeling of pushing my body to the limit. I'm not sure if it's fear of getting injured again, or if something else is different.

Boy, I'm sure glad I didn't bail on my speed intervals after all this speed interval talk today.

This morning I did something I don't remember ever doing before.  I got in the car and started driving down to meet Ryan for our 21 mile run, he called me and we decided to cancel due to the blizzard, I then started to drive to Lifetime for a run on the treadmill,  just before getting on the freeway I thought to myself, this is stupid and I turned around, went home and climbed back in bed. 

But I made this pace chart for the Boston Marathon so my morning wasn't a complete waste.

 http://goo.gl/abp4V

Well, taking 2 days completely off from running and missing the all important 3 weeks away long run definitely wasn't my plan but it was probably the smartest thing I've done all year.  I woke up feeling really good this morning, and my hamstring almost didn't hurt at all, it makes me think that a good 2 week taper could actually heal it, at least well enough to run a marathon. 

6 mile progressive warm up, 5 X 800's with 1/4 mile jog in between each, 1/2 a mile cool down.  Plan was to do my 800's in 2:45, 5:30 pace I actually went in not sure I could even hold that pace, turns out I was able to exceed my goal on all 5 sets, so pretty happy with it.  The hamstring did start acting up on the 4th set but something about knowing there is only 1 more to go can get you through almost anything.

Distance	Split Time	Time	HR
1	7:52	7:52	146
2	7:32	15:24	154
3	7:22	22:46	157
4	7:11	29:58	160
5	7:01	36:59	161
6	6:50	43:49	165
6.5	2:39.7	46:29	179 Max
6.75	2:15.08	48:44	165
7.25	2:41.75	51:26	180 Max
7.5	2:20.25	53:46	167
8	2:40.61	56:27	182 Max
8.25	2:26.04	58:53	169
8.75	2:41.77	1:01:35	180 Max
9	2:25.93	1:04:01	168
9.5	2:40.98	1:06:42	180 Max
10	4:25.65	1:11:07	162
Total	7:06 avg pace	1:11:07	161

Almost positive that's not how the LR is suppose to feel, we felt guilty for missing Saturdays run (Ryan more than me) so we decided to do a make up run this morning.  I wanted to run to work but he forgot to pack a bag so we ended up just meeting at Maverik and running our normal West Lehi run.  I pretty much knew when I woke up this morning that it would be a train wreck, my legs were still pretty hammered from my 800's yesterday.  Anyway, we got through it, both of us were pretty slow, maybe the slowest run Ryan and I have ever done averaged just under 8:00 pace.  I think I'm going to start my taper early,  like right.....Now!

Nice relaxing swim today, at least for the first 20 laps.  I was planning on doing 1.5 miles but around lap 20 all the lanes were full and I had to start sharing with someone.  Usually I'm there early enough that I get a whole lane to myself, and frankly I'm not a good enough swimmer to share lanes, it's way to stressful wondering if I'm going to slam into someone on the turns, I might as well be sharing a treadmill.  So I got out and 32, and went to the weight room where I totally fit in.

5 miles on the track during soccer practice. 8 laps with my 9 year old in 18 minutes. I made him do track math every lap, kids are really good at track math, much better than us adults that can't count by 10's.

It was so nice this morning with the full moon and all I decided to not drive to the gym and just run my normal 10 mile home route.  Out along the Murdock trail on a perfect morning, almost didn't need a light the moon was so bright.  On the way back I ran in to Carina so I did a few back and forths with her, definitely my fastest portion of the run.

Same run as yesterday but about 1:30 faster per mile, still not fast enough.  I think today is the day I admit to you and myself that a PR is not going to happen in Boston.  I don't have a great excuse, training has been pretty good, I'm not really feeling bad, my hamstring has been a problem but I'm not sure that's the entire problem.  So I think I'm going to change my goal and just try to enjoy the experience more, maybe I'll shoot for a PR this Summer or fall but for some reason I just haven't gotten myself to the point where I can maintain 6:20 pace for 2:45.  I've definitely been more cautious this time around, I used to just go out and run every run at 6:30 pace, that worked for a while but eventually got to me.  So I'm not sure what the perfect combination is for me but for now I'm just going to be happy that I'm in pretty good shape, and for the most part can still enjoy running.

I listened to Depeche Modes new album on my run this morning, pretty good but there is a song on it called "Slow"  The lyrics go "Slow... Slow.... Slow as you can goooo"  Worst Tempo run song ever..

Good quality run with Ryan this morning, we met on the Murdock trail and ran down to Lehi and back and then up to Highland and back.  Averaged pretty close to 7:00 pace for most the run, I had to slow us down on uphills because of my stupid hamstring.  I told him to try and run the last 3 at marathon pace, he locked us in right at 6:30 for the last 3, now I am thinking it's my hamstring that's limiting me cause it's really the only thing that was holding me back.  15.4 miles with Ryan.

Last night I tried to organize a last minute group run of the Running of the Tigers 5K with the entire neighborhood so I came back to meet at the start line with my kids.  Well no one showed up except us and my 11 year old twisted his ankle at his soccer game Thursday so I ended up running it with Ethan my 9 year old just him and I.  He's looking really good, I only let him walk through where the aid stations will be.  We came in right around 30 minutes which was fine for a practice run, only the second time he has run that far.