Cool Runnings!

PM - ran 1 mile total with Sam and Joey (ran with both of them at first, then dropped Joey off at 0.65 miles and continued with Sam to finish the mile). Ran another 2 miles with Sparky at 8:30 pace, legs felt good. Then I got to re-christen our trusty treadmill (I replaced the motor belt, which turned out to be the cause of all the belt slippage - hooray!) while Lybi ran outside - this was after the boys were asleep. Ran 7 miles on the treadmill at 8:34 pace. Felt a little bit of niggle in my knee, probably due to the high amount of mileage, but it didn't get any worse. Feels fine now. I will have Lybi scrape my leg later to continue to promote healing. Walked another 1.5 miles on the treadmill to cool down while I watched the rest of the Dr. Who episode. I need to do something about my arch as well, looks like I am developing a pretty good case of PF. I'll continue to roll it, and wear the Strassburg Sock (once I wash it, that is).

(ProGrid Guide - 39.85)

PM - ran 1 mile with Samuel in 10:01, then 0.65 with Joey in 7:18.  Unmeasured distance with Adam.  Took Sparky for 2.85 miles at 8:22 pace - he was pretty tired and hot after that.  Then I ran another 2 miles by myself, averaging somewhere around 8:10/mile.  Average for the run with Sparky and by myself was 8:15/mile.  Felt good, little bit of niggle in my knee towards the end of the run, but it seems that I have been able to build up the distance I run before I start to feel anything, and sometimes I don't feel anything at all, so that seems to be a good thing to me.  I am considering registering for a local 5K in a couple of weeks.

(ProGrid Guide - 46.35)

AM - ran 3.35 miles with Sparky, unknown time because my watch didn't start up again when I pushed the start button (and no Garmin). Guessing somewhere around 8:20 pace. Then ran another 2 miles by myself, accidentally ran faster than I realized because I messed up with the time - I thought I was actually running at about 8:45 pace, but it was really 7:45 pace. Knee felt fine, except for a brief period where I had sped up with Sparky to try to get him to run next to me and have slack in the leash instead of him running behind me and there being tension in the leash. Kind of aggravating at times, because it pulls back on me. I think this also has an effect on how fast I run alone - I get used to running at a certain pace with Sparky, and then when I run, because I don't have that force pulling back on me, I end up running faster.

PM - ran 1 mile with Sam in 9:52, then 0.65 with Joey in 7:02.  They both did very well, in spite of the wind starting to pick up.  Sam ran almost half a mile without holding my hand, and was able to maintain the pace quite well. 

AM - ran 3 miles with Sparky at 8:00 pace (a bit too fast, but since I wasn't wearing the Garmin, it was hard to determine that until the end). In spite of the faster pace, the run felt good. Took Sparky back inside and then ran another 2.1 miles by myself in 16:50, still same average of 8:00/mile. Will run with the boys this afternoon to finish my day.

PM - ran 1 mile with Samuel in 9:56 - without holding his hand at all! He achieved his goal (sub-10:00 mile on his own), and will be getting a toy from the dollar store tomorrow (we would have gone today, but they close at 7). Then ran 0.65 with Joey at 10:30 pace - also without holding his hand at all! He also achieved his goal of sub-11:00 pace for his run, and will be getting a toy from the dollar store as well. Gave all the boys hot chocolate tonight as a treat for doing so well. I am so proud of all my boys, they did a marvelous job, and have showed me how they have really improved in their speed and strength. I am going to try to have them run all by themselves from now on, now that they have shown me they can do it, and we might just go a little slower.

(ProGrid Guide - 53.1)

PM - ran 5 miles on the treadmill.  We stayed up too late last night, so I slept in this morning to get some extra sleep.  Average pace around 8:20/mile.  Picked up the pace on the last 1/2 mile - felt good.  Knee feels good.

1 mile with Samuel in 9:54 - he did even better than the other day, from my perspective - not just in terms of time, but in terms of how comfortable he was running at that pace. Then 0.65 with Joey in 6:55 (10:40 pace). He did excellent as well. Untimed short portion with Adam. Then 2.5 miles with Sparky at 8:20 pace, including a 1/2 mile pick-up at 7:20 pace. 4 more miles on the treadmill - this will be my long day, since tomorrow is crazy busy.

(ProGrid Guide - 61.25)

P.S. - I found out that I got into the St. George Marathon again this year!  I am so excited, and am really hoping I will be able to get another PR this year.  Goal:  sub-3:00.  I feel confident I can do it.  I am doing a good job of getting in the base right now, and will be able to have several months of 50+ miles/week, as well as plenty of time to get in some speed work.  Knee, don't fail me now!

PM - 1 mile with Sam, slower because we had recently eaten and the boys were pretty full. Then 0.65 with Joey, also slower than the past couple days, but no big deal. I plan on doing another 5-6 miles later, either on the treadmill or outside, depending on what Lybi does. We were hoping to be able to run together with our babysitter here, but that didn't seem to work out.

Ran 5 miles outside at 8:05 pace.  Started off around 8:15 pace, then when I turned around, I started to speed up a bit.  Last 0.5 miles at 7:25 pace.  Felt good.  No knee pain.

AM - ran 3.35 miles with Sparky around 8:00 pace. Started off slowly, then sped up once I got warmed up. No pain in the knee again, yay! I would have gotten in a couple more miles, but instead of hitting the snooze button this morning, I didn't wake up until Lybi's alarm went off 1/2 hour later. Planning on somewhere around 42 miles this week.

PM - ran 1 mile with Samuel in 10:13, then 0.65 with Joey in somewhere around 7:00. Then after dinner I ran another 2 miles to make it 7 for the day.

(ProGrid Guide - 68.25)

AM - ran 3.35 with Sparky, then ran 2.15 by myself. I was just planning on 2, but a short way into my route, I saw what looked like a fox or a coyote up ahead and decided to turn back and go a different route. Felt good, still no knee pain. More miles later with the boys.

PM - ran 1 mile with Samuel - not one of his better days.  Then 0.65 with Joey.  Had to hold both of their hands today.  Ah well, such is life.  We will keep working on that.  I am trying to work with Samuel on getting rid of his negative attitude when he runs, because he often will literally "think" himself out of running faster by telling himself he can't run any faster, when he and I know for a fact he can because he has before. 

AM - ran 3.5 miles with Sparky, somewhere between 8:00 and 8:30 pace. Started off nice and easy, around 9:00 pace and just picked it up throughout the run. Knee felt good. No pain whatsoever.

One of our vendors hosted a golf tournament today, which I went to - lots of fun, sprayed golf balls all over the place, good food. Even with carts, I ended up running around quite a bit. Not counting anything, but it definitely adds to the exercise.

PM - after I got home, ran 3 miles on the treadmill. Started at 8:30 pace for 0.25 miles, then picked up the pace to 8:00 pace for 1.25 miles. Bumped up the speed to 7:30 pace for 0.5 miles, then picked it up to 6:40 pace for the last mile. Felt good, still no knee pain. Yay!

(ProGrid Guide - 74.75)

AM - slept in a bit, just had time to run with Sparky this morning for 3.35 miles. Total time of 27:15, average pace of 8:08/mile. Started nice and easy and slowly picked up the pace as my legs warmed up.

PM - ran 1 mile with Samuel in 9:58, he whined quite a bit.  Then ran 0.65 with Joey at 11:00 pace.

PM2 - ran 2 miles on the treadmill to make it an even 7 for the day.  Average pace of 8:15/mile. 

PM - ran 1 mile with Samuel in 10:15 or so - he was whining again. I am kind of thinking that maybe I need to go back to holding his hand for a bit to help him with his form. Then 0.65 with Joey at 10:45 pace. Although he whined a bit, he toughed it out, and looked good the entire time.

Ran another 5 miles later on, 4 with Sparky. Felt good, knee felt good, no pain whatsoever. I am thinking about running in a 5K next Saturday - it is probably the only one of the Arizona Summer Race Series races I will be able to run. The next one is on a Sunday, and the one after that is on July 4, and we will be in New Mexico that weekend.

(ProGrid Guide - 81.4)

AM - ran 6 miles on the treadmill. First 4 miles at 8:30 pace, then bumped it up to 7:30 pace for a mile. Last mile was at 6:40 pace. Everything felt good. No pain, felt good cardiovascular-wise. I think I am definitely going to try to do that 5K next Saturday to see where my fitness is. I am also thinking of doing the TOU 1/2 marathon in August, since there are no 1/2 marathons in the area (the only one we had was cancelled this year due to sponsor fatigue). We will have to see how that goes. I would love to get in a good 1/2 before SGM to better gauge my fitness. Will do another 4 miles or so this evening.

PM - another 4 miles, nice and easy.  Legs felt kind of tired from earlier, and from going grocery shopping shortly afterward this morning.  But I got in my 10 miles, and hit 44 miles for the week.  I will probably plan on maintaining next week or maybe adding just a couple miles on.  I am getting excited about hitting 50 miles, and should be able to top 60 mpw before St. George.

AM - ran 3.35 miles with Sparky, about 8:10 pace. First mile in somewhere around 9:00, then slowly sped up as I got warmed up. Then another 2 miles on my own. First mile in 7:40, second mile I decided to do at 5K race pace - it felt really good to get up to speed, and no ill effects afterwards. No pain in the knee. Last mile was in 5:50. Yeah! I haven't ran that fast in quite a while. I managed to get a hold of the course map for the 5K this weekend - looks like it will be fairly flat, although much of it will be on the canal, which is dirt.

PM - ran 1 mile with Samuel in 10:20 - it was hot out - still 100 degrees at 8 pm.  Then ran another 2 easy miles to finish with 8.35 for the day.

(ProGrid Guide - 89.75)

AM - ran 3.25 miles with Sparky, average pace of 8:15/mile.  Then ran another 4 miles by myself at average pace of 7:53/mile.  It is getting too hot (at least yesterday and today) to run in the afternoon with the boys.  Lybi is going to start doing this in the morning to escape the heat wave in the afternoon.

AM - ran 3.25 miles with Sparky in 26:30, then ran 4 miles on my own in 32:00. Average pace for the 7.25 miles was 8:04/mile. Knee continues to feel fine, felt a little bit of tightness in my right calf while running this morning, probably nothing to worry about. My left arch was also pretty sore this morning when I woke up. I think that my "sock" has outlived its usefulness, and I am going to get a new PF sock from roadrunnersports, it does not go all the way up to the knee, but instead wraps around the ankle. Getting excited for the 5K this weekend. Looks like we should have pretty good weather too with it cooling down here. I am going to set the following goals for the race:

Gold: sub-18:00 (I am pretty sure I can do this, based on the first 2 miles of my 8K last November, which were in 11:50)

Silver: sub-18:30

Bronze: sub-19:00 (this would still be a post-HS PR for me)

(ProGrid Guide - 97)

AM - ran approx. 3.35 miles with Sparky. I say approximately, because there was a quite exciting/stressful event that happened somewhere around .35-.4 miles into the run. I was running east on Baseline with Sparky, when I looked ahead and saw what looked suspiciously like a mountain lion running east on the gravel next to the sidewalk where I was running - about 100 yards ahead of me. I didn't get to see the head, nor did I get a good look at the tail. I just turned right around with Sparky and started running the other way, fairly fast, I might add. It is possible that the animal was just a loose dog - maybe a yellow lab or a great dane. I just didn't want to get any closer to confirm exactly what it was. So anyways, after the eventful 3.35 miles, I ran another 2 miles by myself. Total time for the combined run was 44:00, average pace of 8:13/mile. It cooled down quite a bit today, so I will be running with the boys this afternoon.

PM - well, Lybi took the boys with her over to a friend's house while she practiced accompanying the daughter for a special musical number, so I didn't get to run with the boys.  I made dinner and ate before going to Webelos scouts, and didn't get to see them until I got back, at which point it was time to read scriptures and get them to bed.  So after I put Adam down, I went out in the rain for a nice 2 miler.  Unfortunately, I don't have any waterproof clothing, and am too cheap to buy some, so I ended up getting pretty soaked.  But it was very nice to be able to run in the rain!

On a side note, I found out that they are doing a staggered start for the 5K on Saturday, where everyone is handicapped by age and gender, which determines your start time after the clock starts.  My start time is 13:57.  Hopefully there will be some good runners for me to run with, but it will be quite the interesting race.  Unless I can find someone who is comparable to me in terms of time goal, it will pretty much be a time trial for me, although with lots of roadkill.  

AM - no workee for me today! I got to sleep in until 7:30 this morning. Made pancakes for the family, then went out for 5 miles by myself. Averaged 8:00/mile. Felt really nice, it was in the mid-50's and was drizzling a little bit. It was absolutely gorgeous. Afterwards, I took the boys for a run. Ran 1 mile with Samuel in 10:24, then 0.65 with Joey in 7:15 or so. May get in a couple more miles this evening to shake the legs out.

(ProGrid Guide - 103.65)

Arizona Roadracers Summer Race Series #1 - ran 18:15, 16th (or was it 15th) place overall, 3rd in my age division. This year was much more competitive than last year. More details to follow later. Have to take the boys now to the ward triathlon.

OK, time for more details. The weather for the race was absolutely perfect, 59 degrees and cloudy. Warmed up with (and around) Lybi for 2 miles, did a few striders to get a feel for the pace I wanted to run. Because the park gates only opened at 6:30, they had a staggered start on this race, with a handicap assigned according to age and gender. Mine was supposed to be 13:58, however, due to crowding I didn't get to go until about 15 minutes after the start. Since the race was chip-timed, no big deal in terms of the time, but it left a LOT of slower runners in front of me.

First mile: 5:59. This mile was the slowest of all my miles because I was having to constantly weave in and out of slower traffic that was taking up all the available space on the course. Sometimes I had to almost stop so that I could thread through a gap. Otherwise, the first mile felt pretty good.

Second mile: 5:53. Still having to spend quite a bit of time weaving through slower traffic, and this mile also included the turnaround, which I hit in 19:15, but in general the course was clearer. Towards the end of this mile, I started to adopt the Sasha method of groaning/grunting as I was breathing out.

Third mile: 5:50. Spent pretty much the entire mile grunting/groaning, legs were starting to burn, breathing was pretty taxed. I was still able to pass a few runners on this mile.

Last 0.11 - 34 seconds. I was amazed that I had enough left in the tank to average 5:09 pace for the last .11.

I was pretty dead tired when I finished, but got to see Lybi come in later and beat her time - hurray! I was also happy that cardio-wise, I seemed to recover pretty quickly - after about 3-4 minutes, I was pretty much back to normal. That speaks good things to me about my cardiovascular fitness. Since I haven't really done any speed workouts yet, and still don't intend to until I reach 50 miles/week, overall I am very happy with the result. Had there not been all the congestion in front of me, I would have been very close to breaking 18:00, and in any case, I PR'd by almost a minute from my last 5K. So silver goal achieved, no knee pain at all, just some tight and sore muscles in my hamstrings and calves. I will get Lybi to massage me later on.

PM - ran 1 mile with Samuel, then 0.65 with Joey. Later on, ran 4 easy miles at 8:15 pace. Legs felt recovered, the run felt nice and easy.

(ProGrid Guide - 109.3)

AM - ran 3.5 easy miles with Sparky, then another 2 miles by myself. All at recovery pace - 8:31/mile for the 5.5 miles this morning. Will run with the boys either later this morning or this afternoon. As it is Memorial Day, I don't have to work today either. Legs are feeling better from the effort on Saturday. The sorest muscles are my quads and calves, and my calves are by far the sorest muscles. But thanks to my personal masseuse, I am doing quite well.

PM - Ran 1 mile with Sam in 10:37, then 0.65 miles with Joey in 6:56.  Sam's mile was interrupted by a spill onto the sidewalk - we walked it off, then resumed runner.  He was quite a trooper today, with a little bit of encouragement. 

(ProGrid Guide - 116.45)

AM - 2.5 miles on my own at 8:10 pace, then 3.5 miles with Sparky, average pace of 8:40/mile. I didn't realize we ran that slow, but Sparky didn't want to run any faster, and I didn't want to push him too hard. Legs feel good. I can still feel some lingering soreness in my calves when I run my hand over them, but overall not too bad. Coach Lybi and I have decided that this will be all easy miles this week with no increase in mileage from last week, and I will shoot for 50 next week, to give my body a bit of a break after the race. However, I consider it to be a very good sign that I am rarin' to go and every day, I want to run more miles than I have already run. Either that, or I'm just plain weird . . . :)

PM - ran 1 mile with Samuel - he seems to run better when he is holding my hand - some psychological thing (even though he set his record on his own).  Then 0.65 with Joey.  He was really booking it, but caught the toe of his sandal right at the end and biffed it.  Poor guy :( 

(ProGrid Guide - 124.1)

AM - 2.5 easy miles by myself, then another 3.5 miles with Sparky.  Average pace for the total run was 8:17/mile, I averaged 8:14/mile for my run, and about 8:19-8:20/mile with Sparky.  Knee feels fine, I think I am going to stop mentioning it as it seems to be completely better.  Calves were a bit tight this morning, stretched them out good after the run.

On a side note, I got confirmation this morning that the animal I saw the other day was *NOT* a mountain lion.  During the run with Sparky, I ran right past the creature (er, dog) going the opposite direction.  It is a bit darker tan than a yellow lab and slightly smaller, has a dark muzzle, but didn't even give us a second glance as we ran past it.  I can't say the same for myself . . . that encounter certainly got the adrenaline pumping.  I just don't like dogs that are not on leashes.  They are too unpredictable.

AM - got to bed late, so I slept in and did not run this morning. Figured the sleep was more important.

PM - ran 7.5 miles outside by myself. The weather was lovely, if a bit warm - about 85 degrees, although it didn't feel that hot. Maybe that means I am acclimating to the heat due to increased fitness . . . in any case, my time was 1:00:08, average pace of 8:01/mile. Felt very good. My right achilles started to bother me a little bit toward the end of the run, I stretched it out good and will have Lybi scrape and massage it. I am leaning towards getting the actual scraping tools instead of using our wooden salad spoon or the blunt edge of a knife. I am also thinking about maybe doing the Provo River 10 miler or 1/2 instead of the TOU marathon - that would be easier to get to, and we could take the whole family, as opposed to just me going to the TOU 1/2 marathon.

(ProGrid Guide - 129.95)

AM - Ran 3.5 miles with Sparky, who appeared overjoyed to be able to run, after not being able to do so yesterday. Average pace of 8:12/mile, including a warmup mile of around 8:40. He did very well, no "dog" sighting today. I wore the sock on my right foot last night to help my achilles stretch a bit during the night, it felt much better today.

PM  - ran 1 mile with Samuel in 10:07, only 1/4 mile of which I held his hand.  He did very well.  Then 0.65 with Joey in 6:45.  Later on, I ran 2.5 miles on the treadmill - started out nice and easy for the first 1/2 mile at 8:30 pace, then picked up the pace once I was warmed up.  Next mile at 7:30 pace.  Picked up the pace again for the last mile to 6:40 pace.  Felt good.  I think I have come up with the perfect idea - either Lybi or I will run the Provo River 1/2 marathon, and then one of us will run the St. George 1/2 marathon.  I don't think it will make a difference in terms of which of us runs which, although the St. George 1/2 may end up being hotter.  Either that, or one of us (probably me) would run the TOU 1/2 a few weeks after the Provo River 1/2 marathon, and I would just fly up alone.  We will have to talk about it and figure out what the best approach would be. 

AM - Ran 10 miles by myself, felt very good to get out (relatively) early in the morning and start the day off right. Started off nice and easy, then after the first 1/2 mile or so, got into a good grooove of running 8:20 miles up through mile 8. Then I started to get a bit bored, and decided to speed things up a bit and get in a little MP effort. Took a 1/2 mile to slowly ramp things up, then ran 1 mile at MP (6:49), then cooled down for the last 1/2 mile. Lybi scraped my calf and achilles last night, so that felt better this morning, but I am still experiencing some PF issues with my left foot. I need my new strassburg sock! Gotta call Steve and find out when it should be coming in - he had to special order one. Will run with the boys later on.

PM - ran 1 mile with Samuel in 10:09, then 0.65 with Joey in 6:46 (10:10 pace), then about 400 feet with Adam.  Puts my total mileage about the same as last week, and I feel ready to top 50 miles next week.

(ProGrid Guide - 141.6)