I was planning on swimming this morning but when I got there the lap pool was closed for cleaning. They had the splash pool open and it has lanes but that pool is heated and I feel like I'm swimming in a swamp, so I changed back into workout clothes and went upstairs.
5 miles on the elliptical, and then I limped around the gym for 45 minutes doing various machines.
Saturdays race really has me perplexed, pretty much proves the fact that I have no idea what the heck I'm doing. I've been in much, much better shape before, over the last 3 weeks of "official" marathon training I haven't hit any of my key workouts, I had a terrible 5K just a week earlier yet somehow I went and ran a PR, and I didn't even feel especially great for this race, dealt with stomach cramps the first 4 miles and then had a bit of a crash the last 3. So how is it that I ended up running the fastest average pace I've ever ran in a race before? Was the course really that much faster? Is it simply because I wasn't able to run all summer so my body was better rested? Or did just having some crazy number like run a 1:15 in my mind give me enough motivation to run faster than I thought was possible?
I did run a bit smarter than other races, I look at my previous 2 half marathons and I went off the line at a dead sprint close to 5:00/mile, this time I really tried to keep my pace at a level closer to where my average needed to be, even with the huge hill in the first mile. I don't really have a large pool of races to go off of, so setting PR's isn't a big surprise, if I ran a race every month I'm sure I'd have a much better idea of what I'm capable of but I've really only had 3 or 4 races that I can even compare too.
Still a bit sore, but I stretched out and iced last night so this morning I gave myself the OK to go run. I can't afford to take too much time off.
6 miles on the treadmill waiting for light, then I went and did 6 really slow relaxing miles on the JRP. Very nice morning, saw a family of Racoons and a Fox. Felt like I was in a Disney film.
Decided if I'm going to get over my phobia of running in the sun I need to go run in the sun, which means more lunch time runs while I'm in town. Wasn't to hot but plenty warm, I wouldn't want to race in it for sure. Ran from my office up Big Cottonwood canyon until I hit 3 miles and then turned around. The coming down really hurt.
Can someone please remind me what the end goal is???
1600 meter swim at the gym while waiting for the light, then 7 slow miles on the JRP, nice morning, a little warmer than yesterday but still pleasant.
7 miles in 57:58 8:17 avg pace
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I had every intention of running a short lunch run today, but when lunch time came around I just felt Blah! and didn't think running would accomplish much of anything, so I went to the shoe store and looked at new running shoes. There are about 3 different ones I would love to try but can't afford $100 a pop.
Progressive HR test run today, ran 9 miles on the treadmill starting at 7:00 pace and incrementing up every mile. Just wanted to get an idea of where my fitness is based on HR from back when I feel like I was in my best shape, which I think was early March right before my stress fracture. After 9 miles I realized I was anywhere between 5 and 10 bpm higher per given pace than I was back then and stopped. Went outside and ran a slow 6 miles on the river trail to cool down.
Found an old similar workout from March to compare HR.
When I woke up this morning I noticed a very dull pain in my hip, doesn't hurt or alter my mobility at all but the fact that I can feel it at all bothers me. I thought about swimming but then decided to just do an easy run and see how things went, it didn't hurt at all running so I kept it up but cut the run a bit short. Ran 8 X .1mile strides the final 2 miles at 12.1,12.2, 12.3......mph and then finished with stretching in the pool and hot tub. I feel really good and refreshed right now. Hopefully the hip thing isn't anything bad.
After last weeks race I wanted to experience the Sogonapmit marathon, I met Ryan at his house this morning and we drove to a church about 3 miles from the base of American Fork Canyon, ran up the canyon until we hit 9 miles and turned around. Very nice cool morning, I can definately see why everyone liked that marathon so much, I actually enjoyed the run up the canyon more than coming back down.
18 miles in 2:16:00 ~ 7:34 avg pace Average going up was probably around 8:30 pace, 6:30 coming down.
6 miles on the treadmill with 8 X .1 mile strides at 13.1,13.2,13.3...... mph to finish of the treadmill portion. Then 6 miles on the JRP. Maybe a lunch run, maybe not...
So I-15 North was closed at the point of the mountain at 4:30 this morning for construction, luckily I noticed the backup before getting on the freeway and was able to take back roads to the gym but I still ended up getting there about 15 minutes later that I wanted. Plan was to run part of my run on the Treadmill and finish on the trail but I realized the only way I was going to get done with my 15 mile run in time was to do the entire run on the treadmill, and do it pretty fast.
Ended up doing basically 2 back to back progressive tempo runs, first one 9 miles, then a treadmill reset and a second 6 miler. I felt really good, I forgot my HR monitor but my cardio system seemed to hold up extremely well, legs were really the only thing that got to be a problem, oh and my right foot kept threatening to cramp up for some reason, maybe the 1000 miles on my Nike Free's is to much.
I was going to do a lunch run today but I feel like I'm riding a fine line between gaining fitness and injuring myself again. I've decided erroring on the side of rest is much better than hurting myself again.
I needed that, a nice recovery day. Went to the gym and did 45 minutes of weights and stretching type stuff, then ran the JRP trail on a perfect morning. My legs feel really refreshed right now, best I've felt in weeks actually.
There is a lady that walks her dogs on the JRP every morning, and every morning I run right past the dogs with no incident, well this morning for some reason one of the dogs decided to attack me, It tried to bite my leg but luckily didn't get it's teeth in. I must have smelled different today :)
6 miles in 46:24 7:44 avg pace.
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Realized the only way I was going to drag myself out of my comfy soft char in my cube for a lunch run was going to be a thoughtless, mind numbing run on an air conditioned treadmill, So I drove all the way back to the gym for an easy 6 miles, ended up being a 2 hour lunch Shhh, don't tell my boss.
6 miles in 43:21 7:13 avg pace.
Last 1/4 in 85 just to show my body what tomorrows tempo run will feel like.
Pretty Gosh darned happy with my run today, it was one of those workouts that I was nervous thinking about last night trying to go to sleep. It's always scary to know that you are purposely going to hurt yourself. Workout called for a 4 mile LT tempo run, I took a wild guess and thought my LT range was somewhere in the 5:40 - 5:30 range. Ran a 4 mile warmup then started out at 5:45 pace counting on progressively getting faster, I was actually pretty surprised how easily I fell into the pace, I guess that's where those short sprints come in. Started out feeling hard but OK, then at the 1.75 mile mark something strange happened, my HR dropped about 5 bpm and it all of a sudden felt "easy" after the 4 miles was up I decided to go another mile just for good measure, I slowed it down a tad, it felt good to relax at 5:45 pace.
All and all, really happy. Felt like this is the first workout I've actually hit since last March (with the exception of that random 1/2 marathon PR). I feel like I could have actually gone harder but my HR was right where I expected it to be.
I had this brilliant idea that it would be fun to run to work this morning, convinced Ryan that it would be fun, that guy will fall for anything. Sucker!!
So yesterday we both brought a change of clothes to work and left it here, he left his car here and I drove him home, Started from my house at 5:00 down the flight park road around the point of the mountain, picked up the Porter Rockwell trail and followed it into Draper, followed 13th East to Fort Union and then up the hill to the office. This was a considerably much more difficult run than your average 19 miler, rollers the whole way and then a killer hill at mile 17 from 13th east to 3000 east, and then steep down to our office. I thought it was going to be 18 but it ended up being almost 19, I just didn't have anything left when we got to the office to get that extra .14 miles in for an even 19.
Pretty happy we did it, but I doubt I will try it again this year, I'll stick to my regular 18 mile flat loop. Pretty decent average pace considering all the rollers and hill at the end. Ryan definitely pushes me harder than I would push myself on those long runs.
Well now I feel bad, I wanted to get 85 miles in this week but after yesterdays hard run my hip was giving me problems. It's the same hip my stress fracture was in which freaks me out but I don't think it's still a stress fracture for a few reasons that may or may not be valid. 1. I can pass the hop test. 2. It feels better when I run on it. 3. Stretching helps. Which was not the case when I had the stress fracture. Not quite sure why it's bothering me, or if it's somehow related to the initial injury, but what ever the case I decided to not run this morning. I don't want to push my luck.
Did a 1 mile swim in the pool instead and then sat in the hot tub. Hip feels tons better and I'm sure my body will actually thank me next week for the extra day off from running.
I try not to run on Sundays cause my wife gets mad at me, but when I woke up this morning I just couldn't lay there any longer. 5.1 miles with Nellie on an absolutely perfect cool morning, 4 of the 5 on dirt road. That dog is out of shape, I had to drag her the last mile, but she really is a great running companion, doesn't talk to much. She takes the "stop and smell everything" approach to life. I need that on my runs every once in a while.
Lifetime Fitness is closed for the week and really threw off my schedule. The only thing I could think to do was drive to work and run from work, that way I didn't have to deal with traffic. Ran from the office up to Wasatch Blvd. ran north on Wasatch until I hit 6 miles and then turned around. Turned out to be a really nice run, the first 2 miles up the hill kind of sucked but Wasatch was really nice. A wide bike lane all the way, nice views of the city, and a full moon on a nice cool morning, nuthin' fancy.
Looks like that will be my daily run for the rest of the week.
Exact same run as yesterday except I took my iPod which made me run it 30 seconds per mile faster than yesterday. Today was suppose to be a speed workout day but I have decided to abandon all speed workouts since they seem to cause bodily harm.
Noticed I was at 7:01 avg pace at the 6 mile turn around which means I averaged 6:21 coming back, not to shabby.
Horrible night sleep last night, laid awake until 2:00am stressing about work, stressing about life, stressing about the fact I couldn't get to sleep so my run was going to bite.
Word of advice, if any of you are or ever will be in cub scouts, "DO NOT" do the space derby, stick to the tried and true Pinewood derby. I was in charge of the Space Derby last night and it was a logistical nightmare, kids crying, parents yelling at me. Not fun!!
Anyway, pretty much planned on skipping the long run today. Thought I'd be good to go 8, instead of starting from my office and dealing with the climb up to Wasatch I drove and parked at the park and ride at the corner of 6200 and Wasatch. Ran North on Wasatch to the trail that goes over I-80, and turned around and came back. Tuned out being 10 miles round trip, I never really pushed the pace at all, just enjoyed the run. Felt good, I'm sure the run woke me up better than an extra hour of sleep would have.
Since I did today's run yesterday I figured it made sense to run yesterdays run today. right? Felt really good this morning I should have taken advantage of feeling good and made it an even longer run but I only gave myself enough time for 15 before work.
Decided that a 7:00/mile avg seemed like a good pace for a mid week longer run, ran from the office up to Wasatch, north to the road that goes up Milcreek canyon, started running up Milcreek and thought about making it an even longer run since I felt good but the headwind made me change my mind so I turned around and headed back. When I got to mile 13 I noticed that I was at an average 7:07 pace, 7 seconds per mile behind goal, I quickly did some calculations in my head. Humm, lets see 7 seconds per mile over 13 miles with only 2 miles to make it up, Wow! That's hard, I don't even think I could do that with a calculator. Decided I should just run the last 2 miles really fast, turned out to be pretty good math, ended up with exactly a 7:00/mile avg pace. So when in doubt just run fast, it seems to work out pretty good.
15 miles in 1:45:00 7:00/mile avg pace.
My 11 year wedding anniversary is tomorrow, do you think my wife would like one of these?
This morning I took some Immodium for the normal reasons one might take Immodium, about 3 miles into my run I got really loopy, and dizzy and just couldn't seem to run straight. Had to stop and just stare at the stars for a bit. Started up again very slow, luckily it's Friday and I wasn't really in a big hurry to get to work. Is this a normal side effect to Immodium? If so it's good to find out today than on a race day.
Last day to run my new Wasatch Blvd route, Monday I'm off to Las Vegas for 2 weeks, that should be interesting trying to find places and time to run down there. Hotel gym doesn't open till 6:00am and morning temps are 85. Guess I'll find out what its like to be Burt and JeffMC
10 easy slow miles in 1:16:34 7:38 avg pace.
Broke 1000 miles on my second pair of Nike Free's today, guess I should get a new pair. Problem is there are 3 different shoes I want, New Free's, Nike LunarGlides, and I wouldn't mind trying the New Balance Minimus. But I don't have a spare $300 to blow on shoes.
Well since Ryan was running Hobble Creek this morning I was struggling trying to find a running partner, so last night I asked my 9 year old if he wanted to go on a bike ride this morning, he of course said sure, little did he know it was at 5:00am and 18 miles. :) My 7 year old wanted to go too, but he just barely learned how to ride with out training wheels this summer. I know sad, Bradin was riding without them at age 5.
Anyway, I rigged up Bradins bike with a flashlight and duct tape head lamp, and a modified food and phone case strapped to his seat. Woke him up at 5:00 and we headed down to the Maverik for my normal 18 mile loop. Even though I put my Garmin on the charger last night the battery died at mile 1, very upsetting, Oh well, I've run this loop so many times I pretty much know my mileage the whole way. Pace was slower than if Ryan would have been there pushing me. I'm going to take a wild guess that my actual moving average was around 7:15 - 7:20. Water breaks were a little longer just due to having a 9 year old on a bike with me. He is an awesome running partner though, never complained once the entire ride. We ran into 2 girls training for St. George and ran with them for about 1 mile, they thought Bradin was the cutest thing ever waking up going on an 18 mile bike ride with his dad at 5:30am. Bradin obviously got annoyed with girl talk and went off ahead, so I said goodbye and went to catch up with Bradin again.
When we were finished I felt really good so when I got home I told Ethan (my 7 year old) to get on his bike for a ride. I live on a loop that if you run the outside sidewalk around is exactly 1/4 of a mile, so I ran the loop 8 times with Ethan for an extra 2 miles to finish off the day.
Happy I got a long run in, wish I would have got a tempo in there somewhere but I think the long part was the important part. I'm going to take a leap of faith the next 2 weeks and not run anything longer than 12 since I will be at a conference in Vegas. That is when I always seem to get injured, on Conferences where I walk 15 miles a day, work 18 hours and then try and fit my running schedule in. So I have modified it to shorter runs with Tempos in for the next month.
Pretty speedy progressive tempo run this morning, more because I was in a hurry to get to the airport than anything.
The only difference I could tell with all the "re-modeling" at LifeTime this morning was the smell of carpet glue. Nice way to wake up on a morning run, who knows maybe it helped.
Now I'm at the Airport 1 hour early, I don't know why I hurry all the time, I'm always just sitting around anyway. I will hit Delta Platinum on this trip, pretty excited about it, I haven't been Platinum for a few years.
Well, this is going to be a huge problem, I have found the worlds least runner friendly city. I'm staying at the Encore in Las Vegas, I decided to run the strip since it is lit at 5:00am, well I ran that for a bit and found out this city really doesn't ever sleep, there were people harrasing me, Taxi's running over me so I decided to find a less populated route and ran out to Koval the road that goes behind all the Casinos, well about 1/4 mile into that some guy started chasing after me, yelling who knows what. Luckily my sprint speed was faster than his and I hurried back up the the strip where at least there are Police around. Dealt the the crowds and traffic and ran to the end of Mandalay Bay, then there weren't any people, which oddly enough was even more creepy. That was 3.5 miles decided I'd had enough anyway and made the trek back to the hotel. I did get lots of stair workout in going up and over all the bridges, but that was about the only good I got out of this run.
The hotel gym costs $15 per day, which at this point I'm willing to pay but they don't open until 6:00am and close at 9:00pm. Not sure what I'm going to do...
A little bit better run today than yesterday, I looked on Google maps and saw that there was the Wynn golf course right behind the hotel, decided to run around the perimeter of the golf course thinking it was about 2 miles, the loop ended up being 2.5 miles exactly which was even better so I ended up just running that loop 4 times for a total of 10. I only had to stop an 1 busy intersection each loop and I felt pretty safe the entire way.
It was very hot at 4:45 am, I'm guessing close to 90, The golf course was watering so every once in a while I got a nice cool breeze from the sprinklers. Not the most scenic run but pretty good considering the alternatives. 111 degrees for the high today, seriously, who has a conference in Vegas in August, last year this was in San Francisco, I'd much rather be there.
Day 2 of heat resilience training. Same 4 loops as yesterday, I really wanted to do 1 fast loop but my body just can't seem to go any faster in this heat. I really hope St. George is cold this year cause if it's hot I'm toast. I at least was smart enough to stash a water bottle in the bushes this morning so I could hydrate every 2.5 miles, that helped. I finished off by running to Walgreens and buying a litter of cold water, a Gaterade, and a Strawberry Quick. All 3 were gone by the time I got back to my room.
10 miles in 1:09:27 6:57 avg pace. 2 minutes faster than yesterday.
It may be a little bit cooler this morning than the last 2 days but I also wanted to treat todays run as a recovery so I kept the pace a bit slower which may have had something to do with it. I thought an 8:00 pace sounded like a good goal when I went to bed last night so I even set my alarm 10 minutes earlier to compensate for the 1 min/mile slower pace. The cooler temps and a nice breeze off of the golf course made it feel good and I ended up with a faster average pace but it felt good so just went with it. Did 2 1/2 mile pickups at about 5:50 pace on the final lap just for the heck of it.
I'm really happy with my decision to change my running schedule during this conference, last year I was going to bed at 11:00 and waking up at 3:00 trying to get my long runs in and it just tore me apart. I'm actually feeling very good right now, minor aches and pains in my left leg but all and all I feel really good. I'm not really feeling over worked at all, I probably wont be in as good of cardio shape as I was last year at this time but at least I'm not limping around like an 85 year old lady.
Pretty disappointed in this mornings run, plan was to run 12 miles at 6:20 avg pace. When I got to the strip at 4:30 the street was packed with people, most of them drunk (well probably all). It was crazy, I had to keep dodging people and running out into the street to get around everyone for the first 1/2 mile (drunk people think it's so funny to try and run with you, what's really funny is how stupid they look trying it), after I left the strip it got a little easier but it was Hot, Windy, and Humid and I could tell it was going to be a long 12 miles. First lap went OK, on the second lap the heat started to get to me and I started getting stomach cramps, slowed down a bit but managed to do the first 2 laps in 32 minutes (5 miles at 6:24 avg pace) after the second lap was done I decided to slow it down a bit more and try to cool down, never really could get back into it though, ran 2 more loops and after finishing my standard 4 I just couldn't get motivated to run another step. Went to Walgreens for some beverages and now I'm off to work. Last day of setup today, the conference starts tomorrow.
I found out the Killers are going to be playing at this conference, I really hope I can go, I like the Killers.
I think running in Vegas is probably the best thing I have done training wise ever. It was about 5 degrees cooler this morning than it has been, but still 85 which hopefully is more than anything I will need to deal with in St. George. I felt pretty good this morning, never really pushed hard but tried to keep a nice steady pace.
Did my normal 4 loops and then 1 more mile into the loop turned around and went back for an even 12. Not because I was afraid of an extra 1/2 mile but because I hate the last mile of my loop, it's hot, uphill and has the highest number of homeless people to jump over.
So much for easy peasy, the 18,000 attendees here at VMWorld all but crashed our network yesterday so we were up late last night completely re-engineering the entire network. Just planned on not running this morning but like clockwork I was up at 4:00am anyway, at that point I realized I wouldn't be able to go back to sleep anyway thinking about work so I went for an nice easy run instead.
Nice morning, getting cooler and cooler every day. It was a little bit breezy which kept drying me out but I had my water stash every 2.5 miles. My Garmin died at .5 miles so I just had to run by feel, pretty sure the first 2 laps were 6:30ish pace, then I slowed into a more comfortable pace for the next 2. I was just going to run 1 mile of the final loop and turn around for an even 12 but I saw a guy ahead and caught up to him. He is here for the conference from Indiana and was in the same boat as I was, nowhere to run. I told him I'd show him my loop so I ran with him for the final loop. I wish I would have had him earlier, it made it really nice to talk to someone and forget about running for a bit.
Really kind of clueless about my total time, all I know is I made it to work on time. This conference out of all other conferences I do per year really is the only one where I start thinking about getting a new job. So ready to be done. Then I get to go do it all over again next week in San Francisco.
I'm looking for a running partner really early on Saturday morning for a 22 - 24 mile run. Any takers?
