Cool Runnings!

4 easy miles today at about 7:48 pace.  Felt very easy, no problems with the knee.  Went to my chiropractor again today to get adjusted before the race, so this was kind of a shake-out run to make sure everything was in working order.  Looking forward to tomorrow.  Here are my goals:

Gold:  1:28

Silver:  1:30

Bronze:  1:32

I feel like if everything goes right, I should be able to break 1:28 - that would be about 6:40/mile.  My current plan is to start out at 6:45/mile and see how that feels.  If it feels good, I will speed up and hold it for as long as I can.
 

London's Run - 1/2 marathon. 14th place overall, 2nd place in my age division. Was doing very well until mile 11, then I DIED! Went from 7th place to 14th place. More to follow later.

Time for more details.  Warmed up about a mile or so, not sure about the distance.  Temperature was a balmy 40 degrees at the start - actually felt very good.  Splits are below, along with explanations:

Mile 1 - 6:30	Went out a little too fast, but felt good.
Mile 2 - 6:42	This was just about perfect for the time, but the surface was absolutely deplorable.  Big huge tire tracks and ruts everywhere.  One of the other runners said his friend stepped in a hole and had to be carried back to the start.  I got lucky, but felt my  ankles turn a couple of times.
Mile 3 - 6:43	Right on time, felt good.  Was running into a slight headwind this mile.
Mile 4 - 6:42	Felt easier than the previous mile.  I was holding steady in 7th place at this point.  Dirt road for the first portion, then onto the only section that was paved road.  When we turned onto the paved road, we turned back into a slight headwind again.
Mile 5 - 6:40	Turned around on the road, the wind was behind us, this was the second fastest mile after the first mile.  Moved into 6th place for a short time, then had another person pass me to put me back into 7th.
Mile 6 - 6:49	Another large portion of this mile was into the wind.  Nothing special about this mile.
Mile 7 - 6:48	Nothing special about this mile.
Mile 8 - 6:47	You can see that my miles have been slowing down a bit, although not too much.
Mile 9 - 6:54	Slowing down a bit more
Mile 10 - 7:00	Slowing down more again.  Feeling tired in my legs.
Mile 11 - 7:20	Feeling more tired.  This is the last mile that was relatively normal.
Mile 12 - 8:25	Fell apart on this mile.  I actually stopped to walk for a bit at the water station until I was done drinking.  Then I started back up again.  Legs were very tired, feet were hurting, lungs were burning.
Mile 13 - 7:34	I honestly don't know how I managed to pull out a 7:34 mile on this mile.  I was really suffering here.
Last 0.31 miles - 2:14	My Garmin measured the course about .20 long.  I was pretty good about hitting tangents well.  In any case, I was absolutely spent when I finished, although Lybi said I didn't look as bad here as I did when finishing SGM.  I suppose that's a good thing.

Total time was 1:33:15.  Didn't meet any of my goals, but still felt good about this run.  I also felt like I did very well for the first 10 or so mile, and can now work on my endurance to improve the last 3 miles.  I have high hopes for Striders in April, and think I will definitely be able to improve on my time.

First to explain the sleep - I took a huge nap yesterday afternoon cuz I wasn't feeling too hot, so I had a hard time falling asleep.  Plus I was close to finishing a new book called The Long Walk (good book, very riveting), so I stayed up to finish it.  Felt much better today, ran 1.5 miles with Sam, then had to go to round table for scouts.  Got back at 9:30, decided I needed to get in a run, so I went for another 4 miles.  Felt good to get out after having 3 goose eggs in a row - Monday was a scheduled rest day after the 1/2, Tuesday and Wednesday I wasn't feeling very good, and I don't have a good record with trying to run when I am on the verge of getting sick - I just end up getting sicker.  Glad to be back in the saddle again.

6 easy miles in the evening after the boys went to bed.  My feet are still not 100% recovered from my 1/2 marathon - did I mention I had gotten extremely bad blood blisters on the outside of my big toes (both feet)?  I had punctured the one on my right foot - it was about the size of a quarter and putting a lot of pressure on my foot when I wore shoes - but left the two smaller ones on my left foot alone.  They are still not healed, but are certainly better than  they were.  Average pace for today's run was 7:29/mile.  Ran a different route, and had to run on quite a bit of sidewalk - my feet and legs felt the pounding more, and my legs didn't feel real peppy, but not real dead either.  I seem to be over my illness - just a bit of residual coughing - and the weather is finally starting to warm up again.  Supposed to be in the mid 70's tomorrow.  All you Utah bloggers, pay no attention to the weather here!  Actually, it just means I have absolutely no basis for complaining about the weather here until it gets over 100 degrees in the summer.  Lybi is running a 5K tomorrow - if Sam is feeling better we will all go and cheer her on.  There is another 10K next weekend that I may run, depending on where it is and what the course is like.

A side note:  I had something sort of amusing happen to me on my run.  I stopped at an intersection waiting for the light to change, and a Scion xB (the boxy car) pulled up alongside me at the light.  There were 3 or 4 teenagers in the car, and they opened the window and started talking to me.  Then they stuck their arms outside the windows and said "hey, we're going to run with you" and started pumping their arms back and forth.  One of them asked me how far I was going to run, and when I told them 6 miles, said he probably couldn't run 1/2 mile, he was so fat.  Then the light changed, and they started yelling, "come on, keep up".  Regardless of how they intended it to be (I don't know if they meant to be friendly or derogatory), I kind of got a kick out of it and found it amusing.

Wow, what a disappointing run.  I headed out at 3:00 - the weather was absolutely gorgeous - mid-70's, clear sky, a little breezy.  I was all excited about getting in somewhere around 15 miles.  After just a couple miles, however, reality set in.  I realized my legs felt dead, I had forgotten to put on my bodyglide (can you say chafing?), and I was already feeling tired.  I decided to do 10 miles instead.  Turned around at the 5 mile mark, had to stop at a gas station at 6 miles and get a drink.  At 8 miles, I realized I was in serious trouble with chafing, and was feeling a fair amount of pain.  At the 8.5 mile mark, I decided to take a shortcut that would put me in at 9.5 miles.  At the 9 mile mark, I decided to stop and walk the last 1/2 mile home because the chafing was so bad.  So I totally wimped out, I felt like this was one of the worst runs I have had in a long time.  Oh well, I am not going to dwell on it, but will press on.  For our date tonight, Lybi and I are going to go to the worldwide broadcast.  Not sure what to expect.

Ran two miles with my boys and Sparky when I got home from work - 1.5 miles with Sam and Sparky, then another .5 miles with Joey and Sparky. No recorded distance for running with Adam. I will need to get in some more miles this evening.

Later that evening . . .

Ran another 4 miles after Lybi got back from her run with Christine.  Ran without the Garmin, just with my regular watch.  Kinda sorta checked my splits - I glanced at the watch when I was reasonably sure I had just hit the mile split.  This ended up being a progression run of sorts, since each mile was faster than the previous.  Last .1 I kicked into 10K race pace and worked on my form - lifting the knee, pushing off with the toe - and away I went.  I was suitably impressed at how quickly my pace increased just by those few things.  Anyway, total time for the run was 29:08, average pace of 7:17/mile. 

Ran 3.5 miles after work with all my boys and Sparky, each one separately. Ran 1.5 miles with Sam, I think he set a new record for the time. Then ran 0.5 with Joey. Ran an unnamed distance with Adam, then came back and took Sparky for 1.5 miles at a nice 7:30 pace. Lybi has practice for her piano Cavalcade event until 8:30, so I will have to do the other 4 or so miles when she gets back (and probably after she runs with Christine). Need to work on getting to bed earlier tonight - I was tired this morning, and am a little concerned that I might be starting to get sick again. I will have to wait and see.

Ran another mile with the 3 boys in the jogging stroller (man, they are getting heavy), and Sparky on the side.  Did not time the run.  One kind of scary incident where Sparky decided to stop paying attention to the stroller and start growling at a couple of dogs - he got his foot or leg or something like that run over by the wheel of the stroller.  I think he learned his lesson, though :)  This mile really tired me out with all the weight I was pushing.

Ran another 2.5 miles in the evening - was short on time, so I decided to push the pace.  The run felt good, but this may not have been the wisest choice - I am definitely feeling worse now from a health perspective.  First mile was 7:03, second mile 6:33, last .5 something like 3:11.  Average pace was 6:42/mile.  Based on how I feel right now, looks like tomorrow will be either a very light day or no mileage so I can recover.  I really need to get more sleep.

No running today, I felt sick, so I slept in and stayed home from work.  A nice 10 hours of sleep can do wonders for the sick body.

Felt much better today.  Ran 2.1 miles with Lybi, Sam, Joseph, Adam and Sparky (2 in the double jogging stroller, one running, and one of us holding the leash).  It felt good to get out and run, even if the pace was super slow.  Then I did another 2.9 miles later to make it an even 5 miles for the day.

Lybi already gave an accounting of last night, so I won't bore you with the details a second time.  Needless to say, it was a rough night.

Ran 6 miles in the nice cool wet air (we had rain all day today, but it conveniently stopped when it was time for me to run).  In spite of the lack of sleep, the run felt really good.  A little bit of tightness on the outside of my left knee - will stretch it out good.  Total time was  44:52, average pace of 7:29/mile.

So today was a major cleaning day - after I had to spend a couple of hours working on a computer-related issue that I got a page on, I helped Lybi and the boys do a major cleanup job on the house.  The boys cleaned their room, I cleaned the family room, moved all the furniture to vacuum the whole floor.  Good hard work.  I went back to road runner sports and returned my axioms (they gave me HUGE blood blisters on each foot when I ran my 1/2 marathon) - thankfully they have a 60-day no questions asked return policy on their shoes.  Haven't decided yet which shoes to buy to replace them with - tried on the Asics DS Trainers and the Nike Zoom Elite+, like the wide toe box in the Asics, like the extra cushioning in the Nikes, but they have a pretty narrow toe box.  Got home, and after Lybi's piano lessons, we spent several hours making and baking the best bread ever!  She got a wonderful whole wheat bread recipe that uses fresh ground wheat, special yeast called SAF yeast, honey, salt and oil, plus a natural dough enhancer.  We had a good time making the bread, and an even better time eating it!  All the FRB'ers who come to run Del Sol will get a chance to sample . . .

With all that going on, I was fairly wiped out, and thoroughly unmotivated to run.  Lybi somehow helped me to pluck up the nerve to get out and at least do my 6 miles, which I did.  Once I got going, I felt really good, although I was a bit wheezy from having inhaled some wheat dust when we were grinding the wheat.  Today's run ended up basically being a progressive tempo run, finishing at LT pace.  Miles were as follows:

Mile 1	7:28
Mile 2	7:11
Mile 3	6:54
Mile 4	6:59
Mile 5	6:45
Mile 6	6:34

 Felt good throughout, no pain in the side of my knee, although I stretched out my IT band before I got going, and I think that helped.  Overall, good run, probably better that I didn't do a real long run today, guess I'll have to deal with Lybi beating me in weekly mileage for another week :)  Hopefully I will be able to get going next week and get a run in every day, as well as stay healthy, so that I can get my mileage up over 40.  I think right now the plan will be to do 7 miles every day to put me at 42.  I won't have much time to do more on Saturday, as Lybi has cavalcade, which she will need to spend most of the day on.
 

Ran 1.5 miles with Sam and Sparky after work.  Adam and Joey were still sick - they didn't run.

After dinner, ran another 1.5 miles with Sparky, then did another 5 miles by myself.  Had 4 miles that were around MP, the rest were easy miles, the entire run felt very good, my legs felt powerful. 

Ran 2.5 miles with Adam and Joseph in the jogging stroller while Sam did his homework, then ran another 1.5 miles with Sam. About 7:40 pace for the miles with just Adam and Joseph, about 12:30 pace for the miles with Sam. Will do some more after Lybi gets back from her run with Christine this evening.

Ran another 4 miles later in the evening - 1.5 miles with Sparky, then another 2.5 miles by myself to hit 8 miles for the day.  Average pace of 7:36/mile.  Left soleus was pretty tight afterwards, an indication that I am out of alignment again and need to go see the chiro.  Also used the stick I got Lybi on that area to loosen up the tight muscles.  Outside of my knee started to ache towards the end of the run as well - tight piriformis, tight ITB.  Need to stretch them out good. 

Ran 1.5 miles with the entire family - I pushed Joseph and Adam in the stroller, we let Sam run holding Sparky's leash for a while.  He did a great job.  Then ran another 3.5 miles later to make a total of 5 miles for today.  I am not sure if I am going to do any more today or not.

Had the Del Sol Relay captain's meeting this evening, so I didn't get home until about 8:30.  Lybi decided not to run today because her knee was acting up again.  I ran 3 miles with Sparky at 7:56 pace (he was tired afterwards), then ran another 4 miles at 7:29 pace.  Stretched out my IT band and piriformis before getting out, the knee held up fine.

Ran 3 miles outside with Sparky at 7:59 pace.  Ran in my new Grid Tangents to break them in.  They feel good.  I will be test driving them a few more times to make sure they will work properly.  If not, thank goodness for Road Runner Sports' 60 day perfect fit guarantee.  Took Sparky back in, went out for another 4 miles.  First 3.5 miles nice and easy, about 7:35 pace, then picked up the pace to see how the shoes would feel at closer to race pace.  Last 1/2 mile around 6:30 pace, total time of 29:46, average pace of 7:26/mile, purely due to the last 1/2 mile.

AM - went out for an 8-miler. Lybi has Cavalcade practice this morning, then piano lessons in the afternoon, then the Cavalcade event this evening, so this morning was the only time I was going to have to get my run in. Went to bed at a reasonable hour, woke up at 6 and got going. Started off a bit slowly, then got into a good rhythm. My original goal was to maintain around 7:40 pace. I did pretty well for the first half, then found myself starting to slowly speed up. Around the halfway mark, the outside of my left knee was kind of tight and a little achy, so I stopped and stretched it out. Felt it for a little longer, then it went away for the rest of the run. Total time for the 8 miles was 1:00:23, average pace of 7:33/mile. Felt good to get this run out of the way. I may or may not do a couple more easy miles with Sparky later today. I hit my original mileage goal, so I am happy with that.

PM - In spite of my tired legs, I got out and ran 1.5 miles with Sam and Sparky, and with Joseph and Adam in the double jogging stroller.  Wasn't a particularly good run, but I am glad we did it. 

Ran 6 easy miles this evening, average pace of 7:35/mile.  Felt very good, legs had some pop to them.  Sam and Joey are sick (again), hoping they feel much better in the next day or two.  And on top of that Lybi threw her back out again.  All in all, kind of a rough night for the rest of the family.  Thankfully, I am feeling fine, and already was sick week before last (I probably started the whole thing off).

Ran 3 miles with Sparky after work. Average pace was 7:35. All three of our boys were asleep (that's a first in a very long time!), so it was just me and the dog. Weather outside was absolutely beautiful - sunny and 78. Weather forecast for the Del Sol Relay: Sunny, high of 80, low of 55 for both Friday and Saturday. Will get in some more miles after the boys go to bed (assuming they go to bed on time).

Ran another 4 miles by myself later this evening, after the boys went to bed.  They got to bed later than normal because they all took huge naps this afternoon.  First 3 miles at a nice 7:30 pace, then kicked into another gear for the last mile, somewhere in the vicinity of 6:30.  I wasn't quite expecting that when I stopped the watch (I didn't take the garmin on this run, just wanted to run by feel), but it felt very good.  Ran both the earlier run with Sparky as well as this run in my Saucony Grid Tangents - they feel very good for a lightweight trainer, and don't seem to be giving me the same issues as the Axioms did.  On a side note, it may actually be time for me to switch away from Brooks - I have been having issues where my heels wear a hold in the outer rear of the sockliner and expose the hard plastic heel counter.  It seems to me that perhaps the heel is to wide for me.  Next time I need to get new shoes (probably next month), I will check out some other brands again to see if I can find one with a narrower heel. 

A big fat zero for the day.  After dinner, I needed to do some handywork on the bathroom (had to replace the doorknob because the lock on the existing handle did not work) - with all the company we are expecting, I didn't want anyone barging in on someone else accidentally :o

After getting a knew handle at Home Depot and then picking up a few items at the grocery store so Lybi could make some more bread, I spent the rest of the time putting the new handle on, and had previously decided it was ultra-important for me to get to bed at 10:00, no matter what, because I had a couple days of really crummy sleep.  So no running, but I'm OK with that.

Ran 1 mile with Benjamin in 7:55, then ran another 7 miles with Sasha.  Can I just say, I am SOOOOO envious of all the bloggers who have running partners!  Tonights run was so much fun.  We ran at a nice clip the entire time, with the exception of two pit stops.  During the 5th and 7th miles, we did 1/4 mile pickups at Sasha's threshold pace, and I was amazingly able to keep up.  The pickups translated to a sub-5:10 pace.  I know that part of it had to do with having a partner running with me - gets the competitive juices flowing, but boy did it feel good!  The rest of the run was somewhere around 7:30 pace.  Felt nice and relaxed.  Ran again in my grid tangents to break them in some more.  They feel much better than the axioms did.  Just my feet, I guess.

AM - Sasha and I took the van to get the oil changed, ran 6 miles while we were waiting.  Forgot to bring the Garmin, so we just went by time - 46 minutes for 6 miles.  Today is the big day, folks!  I wish I were fast enough to be running, but will have to make do with being part of the big party as a driver this year.  I will get in some more miles later today.