Cool Runnings!

Ran 6.0 miles again this morning.  Have to get used to running in the morning - it feels a bit different than the evening.  I set a slower workout goal today to try to take it easier.  Goal was 8:45 pace.  Managed to stay within about 10 seconds of that pace, first 3 miles were at about 8:33.  4th mile was something like 8:19 (don't have the Garmin with me), 5th mile I spotted another runner up ahead and my competitive juices started flowing.  Passed the other runner just before I hit the end of the 5th mile.  Not sure about the mile split, but I think it was pretty fast - around 8:00 or so.  Tried to slow down on the 6th mile, but my body seemed to be in a faster gear and every time I intentionally slowed down, I found myself speeding back up again.  Will update later with splits.  Total time for the run was 50:24, average pace was 8:24/mile.

Ran 1.26 miles with the boys in the evening, for a total of 7.26 miles.

Green for go.  Ran 1.32 miles with the boys, then ran 5.0 miles later in the evening.  Took the first mile easy, 8:35.  Second mile decided to pick it up, ran a 7:21 mile.  Third mile slowed down again, ran 8:24.  Fourth mile was 8:37.  Last mile increased a bit, finished in 8:01.  Total time was 41:00, average pace of 8:12/mile (skewed by the second mile, of course).  The run felt good, I felt within myself.  Part of the reason for running the faster mile was to give myself an indication of what I would be able to do when I run the 5K at the end of May.  The rest of the runs this week will be nice and easy, I promise (I know Lybi checks my blog, so she will chew me out if I run too fast again . . . <grin>).

Ran 1.11 miles with the boys this evening, then ran 5.0 miles on the treadmill.  Ran the first 2 miles on the treadmill at 8:34 pace, then increased the pace to 8:00 pace for the next 3 miles.  Final quarter was at 7:30 pace.  Total time for the run was 41:04 (I'm not going to bother figuring out the average pace for the run today, it's late and I need to get to bed).  I wish I could have run outside tonight - it was actually pretty cool for a May evening in Arizona - cooler than it was in my room where the treadmill was, even with the ceiling fan running as well as the fan on the treadmill.  Oh well.

I am calling these easy miles, but they weren't all that easy because there was a strong wind blowing this evening.  Did not run with the boys as Sam was sick this afternoon.  Ran 5 miles with Adam in the jogging stroller.  Was a bit more difficult pushing a 20 lb stroller plus a 30 lb toddler, especially when the wind was factored in.  Total time was 42:48, average pace of 8:34/mile.  I feel good about that run.  I will probably run no more than 5 miles tomorrow.

Ran 0.35 miles with Joseph in the evening.  Samuel was still sick and did not run.  Afterwards, ran 4 miles.  It was a gorgeous evening.  Started off with a 8:21 mile, then 8:20.  Then decided to speed up.  3rd mile was 7:51.  Sped up even more - last mile was 6:57.  Total time of 31:31, average pace of 7:53/mile.

Ran 6.0 miles on a running trail, run felt good.  I felt a little drained after the run.  Total time was 49:00, average pace of 8:10/mile.  Not much else to report.

Did not run today, woke up with a sore throat and fever.  Have been taking tylenol all day since I have training I had to attend.

Did not run today either - sore throat was worse, fever was worse body aches.  tylenol all day again, plus have been dosing up on some airborne to hopefull help me get over this quickly.

Back on track again.  I took Sasha's advice and took it easy today.  Two miles at 9:00/mile.  I couldn't quite get myself to run 9:30/mile, but I feel pretty satisfied with that pace.  It took me a while to kick this bug, even with antibiotics, but thankfully it stayed in my throat (and up to one of my ears).  No sinuses, no chest congestion, no coughing.  Just sore throat and fever.  That's all gone now.  The run felt good, and I was itching to do more (good sign, right?).  More miles tomorrow.  I will go up to 4 tomorrow and see how that feels.  BTW, one fringe benefit of the forced rest was that I was able to let two blisters on my right toes heal up quite nicely.  I really need to get a new pair of shoes.

Went to the running store today and tried on two pairs:  Saucony ProGrid Omni 6 and Brooks Adrenaline GTS 7.  The Saucony had a little more arch support and a nice wide toebox, the Brooks felt a little cushier, but I didn't notice any issues with the toebox on it.  Only other big difference was that the Brooks felt like it had a lower profile.  Not sure that's a big deal.  Saucony is 12.3 oz, Brooks is 11.6 oz.  I am torn between the two.  The nice thing about getting a pair from road runner sports is that I have a 60 day guarantee.

Ran 4.1 miles today with the Garmin.  Decided to start increasing the mileage again as I still feel good.  Tomorrow I will probably go back up to 6 miles.  Total time for the run today was 35:42, average pace of 8:42/mile.  Most of the miles were slower, had one mile where I cranked up the pace a bit to end up with an 8:21 mile.  The rest were high 8:40's-low 8:50's.  The run felt good today.  My legs were a little tired after the run, but that is probably to be expected after a week layoff due to illness.  I am trying to decide if I am going to do the evening run or not on the 26th - I would like to, but I may just go there to cheer Lybi on.  Either way we will get to make a date out of it.

Ran 3.34 miles with the Garmin (did not have time to do any more than that).  Average pace was 8:34/mile, that because I pushed the pace the last 1/3 of a mile.  The first 3 miles were 8:42, 8:41 and 8:50, respectively, then did the final .34 miles in 2:25, average pace of  7:07/mile.

Ran 1.5 miles with the boys early in the evening, then ran 5 miles later on.  With the 5-miler, I found my pace slowly increasing the further I ran (go figure).  Started out nice and easy at 8:47 for the first mile, then 8:41, then 8:33 for the third mile,  and 8:22 for the 4th mile.  I decided to pick up the pace for the last mile and pushed it pretty good.  Final mile was in 6:55, and I was actually increasing throughout.  Started somewhere in the 7's, and ended up right around 6:00/mile.  I was huffing and puffing fairly good at the end, but I feel like I could have run futher - that was part of the reason I picked up the pace - to give myself an idea of what I am capable of next time I run a 5K (still not sure if I am going to do the evening run or not).  Cooled down and then stretched out after the run, took a cool shower (water here isn't cold anymore, just cool).  I feel good.

Got my new shoes today - Brooks Adrenaline GTS 7.  Did a 6 mile run in them, felt great.  Could tell my other shoes have lost their cushioning.  The run felt good - total time was 51:18, average pace of 8:33/mile.  Picked up the pace a little bit the last mile, but really kept the pace nice and easy for the whole run.  Cooled down and then stretched out afterwards, body feels good.

Adrenaline Blue - 6 miles 

Ran .92 miles earlier in the evening with the boys.  The hotter weather definitely makes it more difficult to run.  We have been topping 100 degrees every day this week, and it is still in the 90's at 7:00 pm.  Later on, ran 6.21 miles with the Garmin on my new trainers.  The run felt good.  These shoes are definitely lighter, and feel like they give a little more than my Grid Hurricanes I have been running in the past month.  No surprise there.  I probably do need to get a pair of inserts for my shoes.  Nice steady pace for the first 5 miles of my run - averaging right around 8:30/mile, maybe just a little higher.  The miles were all within 10 seconds of each other.  Decided at the 5 mile mark to pick up the pace, gradually sped up to about 7:20 pace by the end of the run.  I felt good that I was able to keep up my same breathing rhythm even when I sped up this time.

Adrenaline Blue:  13.13

I am looking forward to the 5K next Saturday evening.  It will be interesting to see what I am capable of right now.  I feel like my fitness is pretty good, but I still need to drop a couple of pounds to get to where I really want to be.  Now that I am fully recovered from my illness, I will plan on doing between 36-40 miles this week.  I think that my body is ready for the increase in mileage, and it really just amounts to adding one mile to my run a couple days this week.

Ran 5.25 easy miles in the morning.  Will run again this evening with the boys.  I kept the pace nice and easy, no speeding up, don't have my splits right now, but each mile was right around 8:30 pace.  I noticed that if I want to keep my pace slower, I have to concentrate on shortening my stride.  If my concentration starts to wander, I find myself unconsciously increasing my stride length, and as a result, increasing my speed.  As I was glancing at the Garmin, I would see my pace go from around 8:45/mile to as fast as 8:05/mile without any recognizable change in effort on my part.  Weird.  I am planning on putting in a 2-mile tempo in the middle of my run tomorrow to see where I am at in preparation for the 5K on Saturday - planning on running around 7:00/mile for those two miles.  This is slower than I am hoping to run the 5K in, but I don't really want to run 5K race pace, more like 10K race pace.

Ran 0.75 miles (approx.) with the boys in the evening, for a total of 6 miles today.

Ran 6.0 miles this morning.  This was my tempo run day, so I warmed up at a nice easy pace for a mile, then hit my tempo pace.  I ended up running the 2 mile tempo a bit faster than I had intended, but it still felt good, and I definitely felt like I could have sustained it, although I am not sure if I could have sustained it for 4 more miles.  I don't have the Garmin with me right now, so I'm not 100% sure of the splits (will update when I get home), but I am pretty sure each mile was 6:31.  Finished the tempo, walked about 15-20 seconds, then completed the run with 3 nice easy recovery miles at about 9:00 pace.  The tempo run gave me a great deal of confidence for the 5K on Saturday.  I should definitely be able to break 20:00.  I am not going to revise my goals this close to the race, but will just let it play out and see how things go.

Ran 1.14 miles early this evening with the boys, then ran my standard 6 mile run.  Calves felt a little sore from the tempo run yesterday, and overall I felt a little more tired than usual, but I attribute this to lack of sleep.  I had the worst time falling asleep last night in a long time, including when I was in Boston (although I was taking tylenol pm's when I was there - he he).  Total time for the 6 mile run was 51:10, average pace of 8:31/mile.  Not much else to say - I will continue to take it easy this week with nice slow runs.  I will probably cut back on Friday, and then run a short run in the morning on Saturday, although I am not sure about this.

On another note, I found out that the Saturday we leave Snowbird is the day of the Provo River Trail 10 miler.  I am trying to decide if I would be ready for a 10-miler in 3 weeks or not.  I will need to think about that some, and decide if I can (and will) do it or not.

Ran 5.03 miles in the evening with the Garmin.  Was originally planning on 6 miles, but it was late, and my calves are still a little sore from the tempo run.  Average pace for the run was 8:29/mile.  I think I am going to give my Garmin a name, since Lybi has decided to call our treadmill Fred.  I think I will call it . . . HAL.  :D

My head was filled with visions of the 5K this Saturday - all kinds of crazy thoughts, like (this being the inaugural event) my actually winning the event, or placing top 3 or top 10.  I got to take a look at the course today - http://www.shadefoundation.org/sunset/pics/course_map.pdf?searchtype=address&country=US&addtohistory=&searchtab=home&formtype=address&popflag=0&latitude=&longitude=&name=&phone=d%22vel=&cat=&address=9400%2BW.%2BMaryland%2BAve&city=Glendale&state=az&zipcode=

I think the course layout could be better, and certainly isn't conducive to super fast times, but I am still certain I will be able to reach my goal of sub-20:00, and will have to see about 19:00.  Anyways, only two days away, and I am very excited.  This will be my first 5K in a long time.

Ran 1.56 miles with the boys early in the evening.  I was proud of Samuel for running a full mile without stopping once.  Joseph would have run further, but at .41 miles, he fell and scraped his knee (while holding on to my hand, otherwise it probably would have been worse).  He of course didn't want to run any more, so I had him sit down in the jogging stroller.  I promised all of the boys Gatorade when we got home (they love Gatorade) if they ran without stopping.  Each of my boys did it, even little Adam, who is only 2!  He only ran .13 miles, but he had lots of fun.

Now on to my run.  Ran 6.0 easy miles with the Garmin.  I decided earlier this week that I didn't want to taper for the 5K because my calves have been a little sore, and the easy runs have been helping to work things out.  Focused on my form and running technique to see what felt better in preparation for my race tomorrow.  I still have all kinds of wild fantasies going on in my head about what will happen tomorrow.  Nevertheless, I feel prepared for whatever happens.  It will be good to run a race again.  My last experience with a race was disastrous - that was the 8K I ran the January after I ran St. George, and that entire week (almost) I had been sick with a cold.  I ran too fast from the start, had to stop running about a mile from the finish and walk the rest of the way.  Not only that, but I was dizzy and wasn't even walking straight.  I ended up finishing, threw up the Gatorade that was in my stomach, and was halfway to my car when better sense prevailed and I walked back and got some attention.  They ended up having to call the paramedics to keep an eye on me, and I had to call Lybi to come get me.  I am certain this is not going to happen again.  Not only am I healthy, but I feel well-trained and in good shape.

Ran the Sunset run for Shade this evening.  I found myself anxious all day for this event.  It ended up being warmer than I thought at the start - probably mid-90's, although it felt cooler because of the humidity (or lack thereof) of the air.  Started off too fast (nerves), although not incredibly so, I found myself at a sub-6:00 pace for the first 1/2 mile or so, realized that was too fast, and then slowed down a bit.  Mile splits were as follows (according to the Garmin, I mean HAL):

Mile 1:  6:19 - I started off in about 9th place (smaller event, inaugural race)

Mile 2:  6:25 - we had a pretty good-sized hill here from a freeway overpass that slowed me down, but I was able to make it up on the way back down.  I also passed one of the guys in front of me as I ran down the hill.

Mile 3:  6:22 - I was struggling here with my breathing, but was focusing on the guy in front of me.  As we approached one of the turnarounds, I found myself getting closer to him, and just before we hit one of the right-hand turns, I was able to pass him up.  This put me in 7th place overall, and with the way I felt, I was just hoping to maintain that place.

As I turned right onto the final stretch, I sped up, and was pretty much giving it all I had as I came in.  I was partly motivated because I could swear I heard footsteps behind me, and I didn't want anyone passing me up.  However, my fears (and imaginary footsteps) were unfounded.  Don't have the final .1 mile split because I forgot to stop HAL, and I had not set it to its race setting.

Final place was 7th overall, 3rd in my age division.  I am ecstatic that I broke 20:00 in my first 5K after starting training again.  I also think that I am going to try to run the Judgesrun 5K in Salt Lake on June 16 while we are up there, rather than try to get everyone out of bed super early and leave Snowbird early in the morning for the Provo Riverwoods River Trail 10 miler.

Didn't have to work today, so I was able to get up a little later.  Ran 6.0 miles in the morning with HAL.  The run felt good, especially considering I had run the 5K on Saturday evening.  I was expecting my calves and hamstrings to be pretty sore, but they really weren't.  My calves were a bit sore yesterday, but everything felt fine on the run.  I am going to try to increase my mileage during the week, as I will not be running this Saturday.  We will be up in the mountains of California at a family reunion on my wife's side, and I don't want to go for a run on extremely steep terrain to avoid injuring myself.  So I will try to make up for it the rest of the week.  I am shooting for 7-8 miles each day the rest of this week, nice easy miles, probably broken up a little.

Ran another 1.13 miles with the boys this evening, for a total of 7.13 miles today.  I have taken Sasha's advice to heart and will plan on getting in a run on Saturday, even if it is not as long as normal. 

This is my longest run to date since beginning to train again.  I decided that if I am going to run the Provo River 10 miler, I need to at least have a run under my belt that will be equivalent in time to that run.  Woke up at 4:40 this morning, was hard for me to wake up and get going.  Ate a powergel to get some carbohydrates in me for the run, drank some Gatorado, and then got going.  Had a route in mind that I was going to run, but had to change it because there was a dog on the street without a leash, and no other person nearby (I don't like dogs without leashes, especially when you can't see the owner).  Don't have HAL, so I don't know what my splits were, other than that I picked up the pace for the last mile and ran it about marathon pace.  Total time for the run was 1:07, average pace was 8:25/mile.  I have to admit, I am a bit tired from running 8 miles, but feel good about getting it under my belt.  I will need to figure out pretty quickly whether I am going to run Judgesrun or the Provo River 10 miler, so that we can plan out what we are going to do.

Ran 1.1 easy miles with the boys in the evening.  Was originally intending on getting my regular run in this morning, but I had such a hard time falling asleep that I ended up deciding it was more important to get the additional sleep this morning and run tonight.  Ran 6.21 miles with HAL.  Felt sluggish at first.  It actually took me 3 entire miles to find my rhythm.  The final 3.21 miles felt pretty good.  Picked up the pace after 5 miles, ran MP for the final 1.21 miles.  Total time was 51:51, average pace of 8:20/mile.  Ordered an additional pair of adrenalines today so that I can start rotating my shoes, hopefully beginning next week.

Ran 6.0 miles on the treadmill this evening while my wife went shopping.  To break up the monotony, I alternated between 7.0 and 8.0 mph, with an incline of 1.  The run felt good, I was able to keep my same breathing rhythm throughout the entire run, and I tried to work on my running form.  Still trying to figure out what is most comfortable at slower speeds.  Going up to the mountains of California this weekend for a family reunion.  Will try to work in a run on Friday while traveling, and will plan on running on Saturday (hopefully with Lybi).