What ever it takes!

SunCrest loop one more time.  Thought I was done with that loop for a while but Ryan wanted to try it out.  Perfect weather for it today, cool and misty not much wind.  Pace was a little bit slower overall than when I did it alone 7:10 instead of 7:05 overall, and we came down the back side a little slower to try and save the legs a little bit. But overall felt really good the whole run.  Officially start tapering now,  Ahhh!

http://connect.garmin.com/activity/32090901

5:00 am.  Not a good way to start out my run, both my ipod battery and Garmin battery where dead when I started today.  Luckily it was only an 8 mile run.

General Aerobic, started out at easy 7:00 min/mil pace for 1 and then worked up to 6:20's, for 6 miles.  Finished off run with 8x100's.  Feel really good considering hill run on Saturday.

Finished off workout with some leg and core strength training.

4:55am 7.5 mile recovery run today, easy 7:00 min/mil pace for first 3 tried to keep HR below 140, averaged about 142.  Bumped up to 6:40 for 2 miles Average HR ~145.  Then for my final 1.5 miles I decided to speed it up a little, mostly cause I was bored.  Ran 5:47 final mile.

 Finished workout with a 1/2 mile swim.

5:00 am.  Today was scheduled to be a 9 mile run with 3x1600's, but last night I had nightmares that I was running Ogden Marathon in slow motion and no matter what I did I couldn't go any faster.  Since I started Marathon training last May I have had a goal to run 10 miles on the treadmill in exactly 1 hour before I had to do a reset, so I decided since today was my last day close to 10 miles it would be a good day to try it.  For what ever reason, because of warm up's water breaks whatever else I have never ran 10 miles in under 1 hour before.  I started out at 9.2 mph and gradually every 5 minutes increased the speed up .2 mph, I did take a quick 1 minute water break at mile 5, and by mile 8 I was up to 10.8 mph.  I actually felt really good, I started feeling a little shaky in the knees at that speed, but cardio and lungs felt great.   Ended up running the last 1/2 mile at 11 mph just to make it in time.  Think I ended up with 2 seconds to spare, but we'll call it an even hour.

4:45 am.  Wow, only a 5 mile run today.  I could get use to this tapering.  Ran 4 miles really slow,  7:20 pace, then ran my final mile in 5:45 just to get the kinks out.  Finished off workout with a 3/4 mile swim.   35 minutes total run.

Got a nice 1 hour massage from Britt last night, feeling relaxed and good.

5:15am, 9 Mile run with 2 miles at Marathon pace.

Found out I didn't get into St. George for the second year in a row.  Pretty upset about it,  It's kind of been my goal race for the last 2 years now.

6:00 am,  13 mile loop with Ryan, met at Cabelas and did the old out to the trail loop.  Wanted to run about 1 mile at Marathon pace so when we hit the trail we bumped up the pace a little bit to about 5:50 min/mile.  Ended up going about 1.5 miles like that.  Took the rest of the run fairly easy and ended up with a 6:40 average for the whole run.

 Felt pretty good, I know I could go do a 1/2 pretty easy, now I just need to do that twice.

6:00 am, somehow ended up in Monterey California this morning, not sure how that happened. We got in pretty late last night,  got to bed at about Midnight but still woke up first thing ready for a run.  Asked the Hotel Clerk where to run and he told me there was a really nice trail that ran along the beach.  So I headed aimlessly out,  temperature was perfect, found the trail and followed it until it ended which was about 2.5 miles and turned back twards the hotel, noticed that the trail extended the other way so I took that for another mile past "Fishermans Warf" and the SeaLions and then turned back for a total of 7 miles.

Great place to run, tomorrow I think I'll start out going the opposite way and see how far the trail goes that way. 

6:00 am.   Wow!! That's all I can really say about this mornings run, This is the reason we run, for mornings like this.  Perfect weather, ran along the coastal highway along the beach with the sun coming up over the ocean, waves crashing against the rocks.  I didn't have a camera, I may just need to drive back there to get pictures.

There were little hard packed sand trails that wound through wild flowers up on the cliffs looking down over the ocean.  Anyway, I'm not much of a writer but it was an amazing run.  Averaged 6:27 min/mile without even realizing I was running, wish I had more time before I had to work, I could have easily ran 20 today before I even realized I was working.

http://connect.garmin.com/activity/33128518

Really wanted to take one last run on the beach this morning, but was warned that traffic on the 101 that time of morning would be horrible and I wouldn't make my flight.  So instead I woke up at 3:30 am, caught the 6:30 flight home and did a quick 5 miler with the dog around the neighborhood.  Found a really nice trail I didn't know existed before, was pretty muddy, nothing like running with 6 lbs of mud on your shoes to get you ready for a race.

It always make me feel good about myself when I have to drag the Border Collie the last mile cause I ran her to hard.  :)

6:00 am. Recovery run today on the treadmill with a little speed work.  8x100's. Got a nice massage last night from Britt, felt really good and relaxed today.  Have a little bit of a head cold hopefully it's more of an annoyance than anything.  Got 2 days to get over it.

Easy 4 tomorrow and I should be ready for the big day.

4 mile easy warmup run

We will chalk this one up as inexperience on my part.  My goal was to get a 2:45, which should have been attainable based on my training runs.  I had a plan to go out fairly fast 5:40's for the first mile or so and then settle into an even 6:00 pace as long as I could hold it.  I started up towards the front right behind BJ, Jeff, and Fritz, which was a honor in it self to run with these guys, for 100 meters or so :).  Minus BJ who just took off, I was glad to find out he was doing the relay.

I started out following the plan pretty close, it went something like this for the first 1/2

Mile 1  5:45

Mile 2  6:06

Mile 3  6:03

Mile 4  5:59

Mile 5  6:06

Mile 6  6:12

Mile 7  6:04

Mile 8  6:12

Mile 9  6:26

Mile 10 6:21

Mile 11 6:38

Mile 12 6:33

Mile 13 6:41

It slowed down after 8 due to the course flattening out.  I was actually quite happy when I hit the 1/2 Marathon start line at 1:21.  I wasn't looking forward to the upcoming hills but knew that after that was all downhill.  I made it through the hills pretty easlily and feeling good, I even did mile 17 in 6:46, which I was very pleased with, since it was the big hill.  At about mile 18 I started feeling some tightening in the legs and decided to stop for a quick leg stretch at the next aid station.  This is when it all went down hill (not in a good way), I stopped and did a quad stretch and immediatly my hamstring cramped up in a huge ball of muscle.  After that the entire race quickly went down hill and all my goals slipped away quickly.  I couldn't get back into any rythm again and could hardly go 1/4 miles without stopping to stretch again.

I ended up with a 3:04:44, which is by far my PR, but very disapointing since I was so close and on track to meet my goal up until about mile 20.  Well lesson learned, I'll try and redeem myself this fall in Logan.

In DC for 2 weeks now and I think I'll take it easy for a while, maybe some short (non-Garmin) runs to get my mind back on track.

1 Mile recovery swim

Flew into DC last night, it was raining this morning so I decided to hit the hotel Gym.

3 Miles on the Eliptical machine.  I hate that thing but it is good when my muscles still aren't ready to run.

Woke up ready to go for my first run after the marathon on Saturday, looked out the window looked like a perfect morning.  Planed to go an easy 8.

This is why I run, and this is why I love my job.  Started out in Presidential Park on Pennsylvania Ave. Ran down 14th to the Washington Monument, ran down the national mall around the Lincoln Monument and across the bridge to Arlington Cemetary.  There where signs all over saying no Jogging in the Cemetary (Lame) I would have argued that I don't "jog" I "run" but figured that might get me in trouble.  So I circled back and followed some joggers down a trail that led me to a great boardwalk along the Potomic river,  There was some island that I'm sure has a name but I didn't catch it so I went across the bridge and followed a great dirt path through the trees that circled around the island for about 1 mile.  I then headed back basically the same path I came in on since I was a bit lost.

Run ended up being 9.5 miles in 1:05.  Fun run, excited to go out exploring more tomorrow.

 http://connect.garmin.com/activity/33816793

One of my clients from Germany has never been to DC and was telling me he was training for a 1/2 marathon, so I offered to let him come running with me this morning.  Due to Jetlag he wanted to wait until 6:30am which I totally understood.  Waited for him in the lobby and sure enough he showed up, which quite suprised me.  Anyway, I should have known better last night when he opened up a pack of cigarettes and started puffing away after dinner.  But lets just say that was the longest 3 miler I have ever been on.  I think it took us 45 minutes to go 3 miles.  I ended up circling back and droping him off at the hotel and ran another 3 on my own.  Maybe it was good to slow down a little bit, but I think if he wants to come again tomorrow I'll get an early 10 in before meeting up with him :)

First longish run since the Marathon.  After about 8 I could tell I'm still not fully recovered, Quads still burn a little bit.  Followed a bike commuter trail out to the Airport along the Potomic River and back.  12.2 miles in 1:22:30.

 http://connect.garmin.com/activity/34009520

Da German's wanted to go running this morning, so learning my lesson from last time I went out early and did 7 on my own, I then circled back to the hotel at met up with "Da Germans" for a quick 5K (they don't understand miles)  Clemans, the newer one dropped out at 0.5K yeah (1/2), our 9:00 min/miles where to much for him, so I and Engin (the 1/2 marathon trainie) went another 2.5 around the Lincoln Monument and back to the hotel.  I actually enjoyed taking it easy after my 7 miles.  No stress, just a pleasant stroll around the park.

Had an early work start today so I knew I only had time for a quick short run.  I set out to do 8 and push it from the start.  I managed about a 6:20 pace for the first 3 miles but then the humidity got to me.  Also at that point I got a little bit lost, I knew how to go back the way I came but that would only give me 6 miles so I explored across the bridge into Georgetown.  Really neat place to run, but the intersections slowed me down.  I eventually ran into so other joggers and asked them the best way back, they pointed to a trail that took me right back to the Lincoln Monument.

From there along the pond the length of the national mall is almost exactly 1 mile so I decided to do a fast mile, started out at a 5:30 pace but had to slow down at about 3/4, ended up running the mile in 5:50.  needed to go another 2 miles to get my 8 in so I ran up to the Capitol building and back to the hotel, ended up going 8.4 in 53:00.

7 Mile Recovery run, kind of an exploritory run.  I wanted to try a new route but only had 45 minutes to do it in.  I had noticed on the map that there was a botanical garden on the other side of Capitol Hill, I wasn't sure how far it was so I just started running in that direction.  I started running into some areas that looked a little iffy and there was a lack of other runners in the area so I turned back before making it to the Gardens.  Looking at the map I was only about 1/4 of a mile away, but I needed to get back to start work anyway.

7 Miles in 47:39  6:50 min/mile pace.

Made an executive decision to take the day off of running. Went down to the hotel Gym and did some leg workouts and some core strength.  Then sat in the hottub for 15 minutes, Not quite as invigurating as a nice hard run, but I think I needed the break.

I decided this was worth logging, last night I went and met some friends for dinner up in Georgetown.  I took a cab there and between going to the CVS to get some cash for the cab, waiting in line for the cab, and then the actual cab ride there it took me 45 minutes to go 3 miles.  So after dinner I thought, I'm just going to run back to the hotel, so with my wallet in one pocket, iPhone in the other and some other various items I had bought from CVS so I could get cash for the cab I started running.  It was quite an experience to actually run to go somewhere instead of running in place or one big circle.  With traffic, tourists and other destractions I was still able to make the 3 mile trip in 22 minutes.  1/2 the time the cab took me.  I think I will try this more often.

Woke up nice and early to get 10 miles in before work started, Ran across the Arlington Bridge along the trail to Rosevelt island, ran the complete circle around the island, up to Georgetown, back to the Lincoln monument, back to the hotel.

10 miles in 1:10.  Had a hard time getting my legs to go this morning,  very humid here and lots of bugs, ready to get back to Utah.

http://connect.garmin.com/activity/34722665

Quick 7 mile run before work, to Georgetown and back.  Much better temperature for running today.  7 in 47:22 6:45 pace.

Well a long 2 weeks in DC, finally get to go home today.  Before heading to the airport though I woke up early and threw together 2 weeks of exploring DC into 1 big GrandTour loop.  If you're ever in DC be sure and try it, it has a good mix of trails, scenery, and history.  15 miles in 1:42:45, it would have been 16 miles but Roosevelt island was really muddy so I turned back.

http://connect.garmin.com/activity/34914104

Dedicating the next 3 weeks to speed work before official TOU training begins.   See y'all back in Utah.

Still on East coast time, usually don't run on Sunday but I was up at 4:00am with nothing to do and didn't want to wake the rest of the family so I went and got the dog (she doesn't get mad when I wake her up at 4:00am) and went for a nice easy 5 mile run around the neighborhood trail system.

That poor dog is out of shape, or getting old, she is only good for about 4 miles anymore.

My Garmin battery died at mile 1 so I ended up going on my old reliable 10 mile out and back.  We'll just call it 10 miles in 1:10.