Slow to fast

A pleasant 5 miles this morning.  But my week mileage is going to come up short since I missed my workout.  Planning on 14 mi tomorrow morning with a 2 mi fast finish.

Hardly anyone was on the Porter Rockwell Trail this morning.  I think there were a lot of races this morning.  I felt good and was very consistent for the first 12 miles (8:15 pace).  I sped it up for the last 2 miles and did 6:50 and 6:52.  The last mile had a gradual incline and so I had to push a little harder to keep the same pace.

Forgot gloves this morning and my fingers could hardly unlock my front door after the run.

Andrea and I did 10 miles this morning.  We picked up the pace for 4 of the miles: 6:49, 6:53, 7:02, 6:39.  Everything felt good for me.  Goggles would have been nice for the last 2 miles or so to keep the snow flakes out of my eyes.

6x800m with Andrea on the Jordan track: 2:59, 2:59, 3:00, 3:00, 3:00, 3:00.  We did one lap of recovery after each 800m.  This was the hardest workout I've done.  Luckily, Andrea agreed to lead the last few reps because I would have slowed us down.  I definitely needed someone to pull me along.

Easy 8 miles.  8:08 pace.

Ran from work this morning.

I ran at lunch today along the Sandy Rail Trail.  It's been a while since I've run in the sun.

My goal was to do 1 mile at 7:10 pace, jog for 0.25 miles and then 0.5 miles at 6:50 pace to get a feel for how to pace myself in the race this Saturday.  I did 7:17 for the mile and 7:15 for the 0.5 mile.  It appears that I'm not very discriminating when it comes to pace.  I was using my phone to gauge instantaneous pace and it just wasn't that accurate.  Maybe I was relying on it a little too much.  I probably just should have brought a watch to time my splits.

3 miles on the treadmill at work.  It's funny that I shied away from the rain today when tomorrow for the Saltair Half it's going to be much wetter and colder.

The forecast said a storm was going to hit on Saturday morning, but when I got to Saltair the temperature was in the high 30s or low 40s, the wind wasn't blowing and it wasn't raining.  I started wishing I had worn shorts instead of tights, until I got on the starting line and the rain started.  I was glad I brought a hat to keep the rain out of my eyes.  Because of the possibility of rain I decided not to bring my phone and headphones.  Instead I memorized a few split times I needed to hit to finish around 1:33:00.  The first mile was a little too fast (6:51) so I slowed down a bit to just over a 7:00 min pace.  I didn't know my exact pace because my watch doesn't save splits.  After 3 miles of just over 7:00, I started tracking 7:00 minute splits mostly because the math was easy to do in my head.  At the halfway mark I was comfortably faster than my planned time and I felt really good so I decided to push a little harder (just under 7:00).  I didn't eat anything at the turnaround point, but drank some water.  By this time, I was all by myself except for one guy that I thought I could pass.  After a mile or so I passed him but couldn't catch up with the other two guys that I could see.  I kept increasing my speed a little at a time so that I was consistently beating 7:00 splits.  With about 3 miles to go, I realized that I might have a chance at getting under 1:30:00.  In my head I started to chant 1:30.  At mile 11, I sped up a lot (probably 6:45) and then for the last last mile I pushed as hard as I could.  I didn't quite break 1:30:00 but I'm really pleased with my time.  Especially since I my stretch goal was 1:32:00.  It was a great run for me.  I only wish I would have put a little body glide on my nipples.

After a week of no running at all, I started up again this morning with leisurely jog.  I need to pick my next goal race.  Looking for a good half around April.

Even though the air quality isn't in the red, I can still feel that it's much worse than just 2 weeks ago.

Bonneville Shoreline Trail starting from Hidden Valley Park with Jason from work this morning.  I haven't been on a trail in a while and my ankles are sore.