Cool Runnings!

Well, here I was thinking that Saturday would be the difficult day to run, and I ended up not being able to run today.  I had way too little sleep, so I wasn't able to get up in the morning and run like I wanted to.  Then we got off for the family reunion later than I wanted.  On top of that, Lybi got sick on the way to the reunion, so I needed to take care of the boys, which precluded me from running that evening.  Bummer.  Oh well, I'm not going to get too terribly upset about it.  There were more important things to do that day.

Ran approx. 3.5 miles up in the mountains near Big Bear Lake north of San Bernadino.  Forgot to take HAL with me, so I don't know what the distance was, but estimated based on the time.  The place we were staying at was at 6500 ft - I was huffing and puffing on my run, and that was taking it easy . . . I might have run further, but it was already late, and we had been told there was a bear that wandered around the camp in the evening.

Ran 3.5 miles up in the mountains in the morning before we left - again was huffing and puffing.  However, it felt good to get out and run.  All weekend, I got plenty of sleep and woke up feeling rested, although tired.  I guess my body is not used to getting at least 8 hours of sleep.

Ran another 4.0 miles (this is a conservative estimate) in the evening.  We had driven down to San Diego during the day, so I was able to run along the ocean.  What a great feeling.  Not only was I running at sea level (lots of oxygen, yay!), but also running along the ocean really got me pumped.  I am guessing that I ended up running between 7:30-8:00 easily.  The effort felt fine, was not hard on either my lungs or my legs.

Got my second pair of Adrenalines today, and promptly took them out for a run.  Ran 7.0 miles this evening after we got back home from San Diego.  Man, I really appreciate cooler weather after having gotten back home to find out that the temperature today was 107.  Sheesh.  It was still in the 90's when I went running.  The run felt good, especially after sitting in the minivan for 6 hours, but I didn't particularly like the temperature.

Ran 6.21 miles with HAL this evening.  It was much cooler today than yesterday.  Even so, this run felt totally klunky.  I could not find a good rhythm the entire run.  Not sure what the problem was, but I was determined to run through it.  Knee was a bit sore at the very end, I think I was pounding more than normal during the run.  I may need to take a trip back to the chiropractor to get things straightened out.  Only two more days at home, and then we are back on the road again.  I am determined to get a good run in on Saturday morning before we leave to ensure that I get the run in.  I am certain I will not have time in the evening.

Ran 5.0 miles with HAL.  I had an extremely long day at work (12 hours straight) and didn't want to overdo it, hence the 5 miles instead of 6 or 7, especially considering the difficulty I had with my run yesterday.  Didn't know what to expect, since I was mentally drained from work.  However, being greeted at the door by my wonderful wife and children really gave me a boost.

Started off nice and easy, then after the first mile, decided I would run a mile at MP.  That mile was in 7:45 (a little faster than MP).  After that mile, I was planning on slowing down, but my body said no, so I ran another mile at MP (7:49, closer to my planned pace).  Finally convinced my body to slow down somewhat for the last two miles, 8:25 and 8:22.  Total time was 40:49, average pace was 8:09/mile.  I put some 3/4 length arch inserts into my shoes, and that seems to have helped.

I decided to set some goals for the Provo River 10 miler:

Goal 1:  under 1:20 (8:00 pace)

Goal 2:  under 1:17:30 (7:45 pace)

Goal 3:  under 1:15 (7:30 pace)

I will be happy with any of these goals, but ecstatic if I can hit the third goal.

Today was my tempo run.  Warmed up with an easy mile, then started the tempo - 4 miles at 7:30 pace or better.  First mile was 7:17, second mile 7:10, third mile 7:08, fourth mile 7:07.  Cooled down with an easy mile at the end, for a total of 6 miles.  I definitely could have sustained the pace for another couple of miles at least, but I am really shooting for between 7:20-7:30/mile.  I am going to try very hard to get in at least a few miles tomorrow morning before we leave - we will have to see how that goes.  I may be able to get in a few miles once we get up as well, and I will try to get in a couple miles during the trip as well.

Ran 6.0 miles on the treadmill at Snowbird.  The change from about 1700 ft to over 8000 ft definitely had an impact on me.  I could feel a major difference in how easy it was to run 8:30 miles.  However, I am hoping that as I continue to put in the miles up here, my body will be able to adapt to the lower oxygen and make things easier for me when I run Provo River.

Ran 5.5 miles on the treadmill up at Snowbird in the evening, as I was not able to run in the morning.  Started out at 6.6 mph (9:04 pace), increased to 6.8 mph (8:49 pace) after a mile, then increased to 7 mph (8:34 pace) after the second mile.  Ran at that pace until 4.5 miles, then increased to 7.5 mph for the last half mile.  Cooled down another 1/2 mile at 6 mph for a total of 5.5 miles.  Felt good about this, as I played 18 holes of golf in the morning with my dad and brothers and ran all around the course.

Did not get to run in the morning, as I woke up late (probably a good thing).  Ran in the evening, planned on running 6 miles total (including cooldown), but had to cut the run short due to my stomach - dinner did not agree with me.  That's what I get for eating bratwurst and sauerkraut . . . started off the run at 9:05 pace, warmed up for a mile, then increased to 8:49 pace.  This felt a bit more difficult than yesterday - probably attributed to the greasy brats in my stomach.  Ran at that pace for 1.5 miles, then increased to 8:34 pace until 4.5 miles, then slowed back down to 8:49 pace to try to settle my stomach down.  Didn't help.  Oh well, I don't want to overdo my distance as Saturday draws closer anyways.  Tomorrow I will probably do 4-5 miles, and Friday as well - nice and easy.

Ran 5.0 miles on the treadmill this morning at a nice easy pace - 9:05/mile the entire time.  The run felt good, I didn't feel exhausted afterwards, and didn't feel like hurling afterwards (not eating brats made a difference, I'm sure).  Another 4-5 miles tomorrow, and then it will be time to run the Provo River 10 miler.

Ran 4.0 easy miles on the treadmill today - shorter distance to make sure my legs are fresh for tomorrow.  Pace was 8:49/mile.  Then I ran 0.5 miles cooldown at 10:00/mile for a total of 4.5 miles.  Getting excited about the Provo River 10 miler tomorrow.

Ran the Provo Riverwoods 10 Miler on our way home from Snowbird.  Stayed with Sasha and Sarah Friday night (thank you guys!), got up early and helped Sasha set up the timing equipment.  Warmed up a bit, got on the bus, then warmed up a bit more when we got to the start (Sasha, you are a beast - what was a warmup for you on those hills got me huffing and puffing).  My original goal was 1:15, Sasha felt I could reach 1:10 and advised me to run 1/4 splits of 1:45.  I decided to follow his advice and see where it got me.  Now on to the race:

Started out nice and cool, big downhill at first, which got me a couple faster quarters, then settled down and was consistently hitting quarters in about 1:44.  Ran the first 4.5 miles with Clay from the blog - that was really cool, and helped the miles to go by extremely fast.  Continued to hit quarters between 1:40 and 1:45 throughout, caught some people, but as we descended, it started to get hot.  Right about mile 8, I started feeling the effects, and my legs started feeling dead, although I was able to keep up the same pace.  There was a girl about 10 meters in front of me that kept my competitive juices flowing, although I didn't think I could catch her.  Every time there was a small uphill, I caught up, but she gapped me again when we went back downhill.  At about mile 9, I started wishing the race was over, and felt like I could no longer maintain the pace.  However, when I checked my splits, I still wasn't doing so bad - around 1:46-1:47.  My slowest two splits were 1:48, towards the end when I was running out of steam.  The last 150 meters or so, I decided to kick it in and see if I could catch the girl in front of me - surprise, I did!  Saw my wife and oldest son cheering me on right at the finish - that was really cool.  Finished in 1:08:31, by far better than I anticipated.  Even better, after the race, Sasha told me he thought I could get a Boston qualifier with some more training.  To top things off, I got 14th overall (did not expect this, I thought I was top 50), and won my age division (since Sasha got first overall).  I haven't won my age division in anything since I was 16 and won my age in a 10K.

Legs are feeling a bit sore, but not overly so, this could partially be due to enforced inactivity as we drove home from Provo to Mesa.  I am extremely happy right now.  Congrats to Sasha, Clay (who did great in finishing in 1:12 and change) and all the other bloggers who ran.

Sasha - can you elaborate on what you would recommend for my training?  Obviously I need to put in more miles - if anything, that race showed me that I still need to increase my aerobic base.  My hope is that I can get up to 60 miles/week in preparing for St. George - sounds like I probably need to put in some more tempo runs like this as well to train my legs and body to run at this speed for marathon distance.

Update:  PAIN!  My quads and calves are extremely sore today from the downhill running.  Overall, still feeling OK, but I seem to have contracted some illness from a combination of things:  elevation (Snowbird), sunburn and exertion.  I hope to recover quickly, but this week will have to be an easy week.

No running today - still recovering from the strep throat.  I will see how I feel tomorrow and plan on doing between 2-4 easy miles based on how I feel.  Glad I went and saw the doctor right away to knock this out before it really flared up.

Couldn't go with another goose egg, and was feeling much better.  Hooray for antibiotics.  Decided to do a nice easy recovery run to shake loose the muscles.  My quads felt much better today, but my soleus' were still quite tight.  Could feel them complaining throughout the entire run.  Kept the pace nice and slow - 9:00-9:15 pace throughout, except for a couple of brisk quarters.  Stretched out thoroughly afterwards.  Going to try for 7 this evening, and hopefully go back to morning runs, as the heat is now into the "uncomfortable" stage, even in the evening.  High for today is predicted to be 111, for tomorrow and Friday, 113.  There are times when I wonder why we moved here, but then I remember the great job I have, the wonderful house we have, the neighborhood and the ward.

6 mile run at approx. 8:45 pace.  I learned several things from this run:  1) my body has not yet totally recovered from the illness, as my HR was still quite high 30-40 minutes after my run - this is not normal.  2) I don't want to run outside in the evening any more - it is just too hot.  3) my legs - specifically my calves - are still very tight from the provo river 10 miler - not sure how long it is going to take for them to recover.  With all that in mind, I am going to plan on taking another rest day today to allow all my systems to recover.  I may jump on the treadmill for a couple miles, but I really need to let everything get back up to speed to avoid injury.  This is probably the longest stretch of not getting injured in a couple years.  Starting tomorrow, I am going to ensure that I can run in the morning.  If I am unable to run in the morning, I will have to do my running on the treadmill.

Ran 5.7 miles this morning.  The weather was definitely much nicer, and my body felt better after a rest day.  Not sure if this was due just to the rest, or if taking the multivitamin may have helped as well.  There is a chance that I may be low on some vitamins or other nutrients like iron that may also be keeping my energy down.  In any case, the run felt pretty good through 3 miles.  Pace was a bit faster than yesterday, around 8:30-8:45/mile.  At the end of 3 miles, there was a guy who passed me going the other way, and when I turned around to come back home, he was about 30 meters in front of me (maybe a little more).  I decided to catch him, and ended up running about a 7:30 mile (have check the Garmin for sure), and caught him with about 150 meters to go on my 4th mile.  I was feeling the burn in my legs by then, especially in my quads this time, but calves were also burning a bit.  Slowed back down, and decided to cut the run a little short - took a shortcut back home that cut off about .35-.4 miles off the run.  After the run, stretched, showered, dressed and went to work.  My calves are still kind of tight and sore, but my quads are really killing me this morning.  Hoping that will go away as the day progresses.  I will make sure to take it easy tomorrow on my run.  Hoping to start running 7-8 miles next week as my body continues to rebuild from the race.

Was planning on running 8 miles today, but due to the heat, decided to cut my run a little short.  Everything felt much better today - my legs, my lungs, etc.  Was able to maintain a nice steady pace throughout the entire run.  Average pace of 8:26/mile.  Legs started to get tired at the end, but nothing really to complain about.  Hoping I will be able to view the results of the WBR soon.  Also have been watching coverage of the USATF Championships - our distance running corps seems to have improved quite a bit.

Ran 6.0 miles this morning.  Was planning on running 7, with an original plan this week of running 7-8-7-8-7-8, but I realized during my run that would put me at 45 miles for the week, and that is too much of a jump in mileage.  Decided instead to do something like 6-7-6-7-6-7, which would put me at 39 for the week, but I will probably put in an additional mile or two on Saturday to get me above 40.  Also decided that I will be Lybi's cheering section for the 5K on July 4 so that I can continue training and put in some good miles instead of running a hard 5K.

Ran 7 miles this morning at a good pace.  Average was somewhere around 8:20/mile.  Decided to spice things up on a couple of the miles to break up the monotony - ran miles 2 and 4 around 8:00 pace, also finished strong.  Felt good on this run.  Not much else to say - looking forward to increasing my mileage to continue to build up my aerobic base.

Ran 6.25 miles on the treadmill this evening.  It was kind of late and I didn't want to run outside, because it was still pretty hot. Started off at 7 mph at 1.0 incline as a warmup, felt good, felt nice and easy.  Decided that I would put in a tempo run to break up the monotony of the treadmill, after 1 mile, I increased the pace to 8 mph (7:30/mile).  Ran 4.5 miles at that pace, still felt relaxed and fairly easy.  I was able to keep my regular breathing rhythm throughout, which suggests that my CV fitness has definiely improved.  Ran the last 1/2 mile of the tempo at 9 mph (6:40 pace), that felt a bit more difficult.  Cooled down back at 7 mph for 1/4 mile, then was done.  Going to take it easy the next couple of days and then get in a 10-12 mile run on Saturday.

Ran 5.0 miles outside this evening at 9:00.  Temperature was still around 100 degrees.  Warmed up the first mile, then ran two miles at approx. MP (7:38, 7:28).  It felt harder than yesterday, I attribute that to the heat.  Slowed down a bit the 4th mile (7:58), ran the last mile in 8:23.  Although I felt good, the weather has now gotten to the point where I hate running outside in the evening.  And monsoon season will start in a few weeks, which means the humidity will be creeping up.  Not looking forward to that.  I really need to commit to getting to bed on time so that I can run in the morning, no exceptions.

Ran 5.0 miles this evening on the treadmill.  Nice easy pace - 7 mph (8:34/mile) at incline of 1.0 the entire time.  Will be putting in a long run tomorrow morning, so I wanted to take it easy.

Ran 12.0 miles this morning!  I had set my alarm for 4:00, but when my wife woke me up at 5:45, I realized I had forgotten that it was only set to go off on the weekdays.  Got up and ran 6 miles outside, with a quick stop at the store for some gel, as I had not had time to eat anything.  Took one gel with some water, then continued.  After 6 miles outside, it was getting too hot, so I came back inside, had some gatorade and the second gel, then finished my run on the treadmill.  I didn't really like doing this, but it beats getting heat exhaustion, which I am prone to.  Outside run was 49:53, average pace of 8:18/mile.  I was feeling pretty good during this part of the run, although the faster pace was also partly due to the sighting of a loose dog on the street.  Hit the treadmill, and averaged a steady 8:34/mile, total time of 51:24.  Total time for the run was 1:41:17, average pace of 8:26/mile.  This run felt good.  I felt like I could have easily run further without any issue - this is encouraging to me.  This gets me above 40 miles for the week.  My plan for next week right now is to have a shorter long run - 7 miles on the weekdays and 10 miles on Saturday.  This will put me at 45 miles for the week.

Afternoon - rode my bike about 5 miles to the auto shop to pick up our minivan, which had to have the tranny fluid flushed.  I won't count any miles here, but it definitely counted as additional exercise.