What ever it takes!

Somewhere into my 16 mile run on Saturday I found my legs again, I think running with Ryan really helped.  Just running next to people with a really smooth stride helps a lot.

First resemblance of speed work in quite some time, when I started this morning I didn't think it would even happen, now my left hip is acting up.  It sucks getting old or whatever I'm getting.

Ran a 6 mile warm up in 44:45 started feeling better around mile 3.  Then I did 3 X 1 mile repeats, no fancy pyramids, or diamonds or rombusus, just plain old repeats with 1/2 mile rest.  I wasn't quite sure I could even run a 6 minute mile but decided to give it a try, ran the first one fairly handily and considered trying the next 2 faster but then I decided there is really no point in me running faster than 6 min/mile for my current race goal.  So I ran all 3 at 6 min pace (actually the last one in 5:55 just to get done 5 seconds sooner),

Partially annoyed with how hard it was, partially thrilled I could even run that pace at all after how I've felt lately.

Expected to need to shovel snow this morning so I set my alarm for 3:45,  woke up at 3:42.  There was no snow to be shoveled so I got an early start.  Wasn't really sure how far I was going to run, the schedule called for 14 but I just decided to go as far as I could in 2 hours, when I started I didn't know if that meant 14,15 or 16.

Started out slow and progressively got a little faster, fiddled around with my speed and stride until I found an "I can run like this forever" pace, which seemed to be around 7:40.  My left hip has been bothering me so I paid close attention to that, it seems that I am still favoring my right leg even though it doesn't really hurt anymore so in return my left leg is doing more work, my left hip and left foot were getting tired.  I tried really hard to just run normal but anytime my mind wondered I noticed I'd go back favoring my right leg.

Anyway, good run!  Glad I had time for a couple extra miles.

16 miles in 2:03:00 7:42 avg pace.

I had a bit of a wardrobe malfunction this morning, I won't go into detail but it altered my workout a bit.  It wasn't a bad thing though, I feel great now after a swim I'm almost excited to run tomorrow on my fresh new legs.

32 laps in the pool, 30 minutes of weights.

When I first started running I used to try and average 10 min/mile because it was easier to do the math in my head, I always thought I should run 6 min/mile pace cause the math would be just as easy.  Well I never really got to the point where I just ran 6 min/mile on an average training run so now my new favorite pace is 7:30.  The math is pretty easy, not as easy as 6 but easy.

I started practicing drinking water on my longer runs,  I used to never have a water bottle with me but I've started just so I can practice and get used to it.  I take 2 gulps every 15 minutes, which comes out to about 8 oz per hour.  Added Emergen-C to it this morning. 

14 miles in 1:45:00 7:30 avg pace.  I threw in a couple 6:30's for fun since my legs felt good.

Here is my pacing plan so far for the BigHorn 50.  It is open for comment, criticism, or pure viewing pleasure.

I'm glad I didn't have a long run planned today, woke up to a 2' snow drift in my driveway, after 45 minutes of shoveling I tried to get my Mazda 6 up the hill and got stuck.  Eventually got it back in the garage and convinced my wife it was more important for me to have the 4 wheel drive today than her since she can walk 200 yards to school.  So I got to the gym about 1 hour later than normal, did an easy little 6 mile run but threw in 5 X ~100 m sprints in the final mile just to get the legs moving.  6 miles is all I really had on tap for the day anyway, and the snow shoveling probably counted for strength training of some sort so I'm not really put out any.

6 miles in 46:40 7:46 avg pace.

Set my alarm for 3:00 am, woke up at 2:50.  Why?  Is it time for D-News marathon already?  Nope, the myth, the legend Jeff Shadley was in town and I heard a rumor of an early long run, 2 words that just get me out of bed and my heart pumpin!  Jeff was staying at Rob Murphys house and brought along 2 really fast looking kids  Caleb and Gray from Idaho.  Met with them at 4:00 and went on the historic guided tour of Sugar House area, up to the Zoo, down the D-News course for a while and around about places I never new existed.

Really great run, I feel bad for bailing out on Ryan but I enjoy the early stuff and thought it would be fun to run with new people.

Very bad choice of shoes, I wore my Free TR winters thinking the roads would be icy, I've never ran that far in them and my feet really hurt, also my Hip started acting up around mile 12 coming back down the hill, but after a quick pitstop at Rob's house it felt fine after that.

Came home and got in the hot tub with the kids, we played Double Dog Triple Dare get out of the hot tub, go make snow angels and then get back in.  I actually think it helped with recovery.

18.2 miles in 1:17ish  7:49ish.