Slow to fast

I was planning on a treadmill run this morning but at the last minute I checked the air quality and suprisingly it was good.  I did 4 miles a little faster than marathon pace: 6:53, 6:51, 6:54, 6:56. Next week my workout will be some faster intervals.

It felt really cold this morning.  The air quality wasn't great but it wasn't in the unhealthy region.

For my first race of the new year I'm trying to decide between the Riverton Half and the Salt Lake Half.  I'm even considering the Buffalo Run 25k to try out a trail run.  I'm itching to do a race soon and the Riverton Half and the Buffalo Run are both in March.  I'd have to wait until the middle of April to do the Salt Lake Half.

I ran with my neighbor Bryan the same loop I did last week up to Wasatch. It was nice and snowy but I didn't slip too much.

17 degrees this morning and it felt cold.

Last night I registered for the Buffalo Run 25k in March and I'm pretty excited about it.  The only thing I'm worried about is doing enough trail miles.  I mostly run on the road near my house so I'll need to change things up a bit and make time to drive to trails.  And I'll need to find some good trails that aren't covered in snow.  Or at least have tracks.  I also need to get a pair of trail shoes.

3xmi w/3min jog recovery
6:31, 6:31, 6:26

1 mile warm-up and 1 mile cool-down

I used my watch to help keep the pace. It beeps and vibrates at me when I'm over or under the target range I set. It seemed to work well but it beeped a lot.

3 miles on the treadmill at work.  I wore my Garmin and just using cadence it tracked the same pace as the treadmill and the mileage was only off by 0.01 mi.  

10 x 1 min hill repeats with equal jog recovery

0.17mi 3.7%, 0.16mi 7.1%, 0.15mi 9%, 0.14mi 8.1%, 0.13mi 6.3%, 0.13mi 4.8%, 0.14mi 4.5%, 0.14mi 5.4%, 0.14mi 6.6%, 0.14 mi 6.6%

2 mile warm up and a 1.8 mile cooldown. This was a hard workout.

It was pretty slick this morning but not too cold.

I did 15.6 miles with my neighbor Bryan. We went a bit slower than I would have on my own (10:18 pace) but I got a lot of time on my feet. Longer time then I've ever been out and the longest distance I've run. It went by quickly with the conversation.

Jason (from work) and I did 5.3 miles at lunch today.  We discussed training plans from an engineering perspective.  I think we've boiled training down to a quadratic polynomial equation.  Very simple really.  If there wasn't massive potential to be the first to publish these findings, I'd share them here.

3.5 miles on the treadmill at lunch.  This time my watch reported about 0.06 miles less than the treadmill.  I'll keep tracking to see whether they agree.

I did 4 miles on a gradual incline (2.5%) and tried to keep a consistent effort level.  My heart rate fluctuated between 165 and 179 bpm and here are my splits: 6:56, 6:57, 7:01, 5:54.  The last half a mile was a steep downhill so I sped up to keep my heart rate consistent.  I have to say I'm a little disappointed in my splits on such a gradual incline.  I was hoping I'd be able to sustain a 6:45 pace.

Jason and I did the 4 mile lap around work this morning.  Jason reminded me during our last mile that I was planning on doing a fast last mile.  So at 3.4 miles I took off on a slight uphill grade.  My goal was to do it in 6:00 min and I did it in 5:56 min.  Then cooled down for 0.2 miles and walked back to work for another 10 min or so.

Jason and I started out on the Bonneville Shoreline trail at Hidden Valley Park. The trail was nicely packed snow at first but then some ice started showing up. We decided to turn around and then Jason took a bad fall and hurt his wrist. He said it was fine but after the run he went to get an X ray. Luckily no broken bones.

Early morning run today.  The air was in the yellow this morning and I felt it at the beginning of the run (I guess it could have also been a cold that I'm dealing with and my clogged up throat) but when I got up on the bench it didn't bother me too much.  It was nice to be able to run at my own pace today (8:11 min/mi).

I did a workout on the treadmill this morning.  2 x 1.5 miles with equal jog recovery.

Lap 1: 6:42 (watch), 6:18 (treadmill)
Lap 2: 6:55 (watch), 6:18 (treadmill)

I was a little surprized that there was such a difference between my watch and the treadmill. I'm positively sure the watch was least accurate of the two. I was really pushing hard and my effort felt more in the 6:20 min range. Most of my miles are slow miles so I guess I should expect the watch to be more accurate on the slow paces since it self calibrates when the GPS is being used. With less fast GPS and cadence data, there's not much data to correlate to. Inaccurate regression analysis.

After work Jason and I ran up Little Cottonwood a couple of miles. We were kind of out of the bad air but not completely. We averaged a 10:00 min pace up and an 8:00 min pace down.

12 x 30s hill repeats with 1 min jog in between on the treadmill. I started at 11.5% incline and 7:30 min pace. At the end I started doing 10% incline and 8:20 min pace. This was a hard workout and I probably should have gone with a more moderate incline. It was a bit of a pain because the treadmill took about 7 seconds to change the incline from 1% to 11%. I just made sure I was doing 30 seconds of effort after the treadmill got up to the full incline.

On Saturday, my normal routine was interrupted and I never got out to run the 13 miles I had planned to run.  I told myself I would run a few extra miles this morning to make up for it, but when I woke up the air quality wasn't really that good so I kept sleeping.  I ended up running on the treadmill and did 2 fast miles at the end (6:31, 6:35).  Two days off and I'm feeling great.

4 miles with Jason this morning. Conversation topics included the similarities between cops and criminals and Jason's missed calling as an attorney.

I did 5 miles at marathon pace (6:55) after a warm-up mile.  Andrea reminded me this morning that this was my longest tempo run.  I don't have the mile splits because I forgot that when I setup the workout in my watch it turned the 5 mile portion into one long lap.  But I think I was fairly consistent.  It felt good and I think I could have kept going at that pace.  I dressed like I've been dressing for a 20° morning and soon realized that the temperature was much warmer today.

4 miles on the treadmill.  I saw a few little drops of rain outside and just didn't feel like going out.  I just bough a pair of Peregrines and tried them out.  It wasn't on a trail but they feel good.  I like how the heel isn't too high.

5 miles up and down 106th South. The roads were pretty slick.

In the morning I went skiing with my brother up White Pine in Little CCottonwood. We climbed 2500 ft. The snow was great at the upper elevations and we only saw a few other groups of skiers.

Did a late night run on my loop up to Wasatch Blvd and back to my house. It got a little colder than I thought it would. I sped up for the last two miles (6:30, 7:00). The last mile was slower because my legs got really cold and I was worried about pulling something.

I ran a few miles at lunch today.  My pace was 7:26 but it felt pretty easy so I stayed with it.

8 x 0.5 miles on a fluffy bed of snow.  My times weren't too consistent because of the snow but it was a fun workout.  3:06, 3:28, 3:10, 3:26, 3:16, 3:14, 3:07, 3:32

My knees have been sore all day probably because of the snow and 9 miles on a new pair of shoes. No injury type pain, just sore.

3 miles doing some shoe testing for Andrea and Jake.

10 x 1 min hill repeats on 5.9%. Paces: 6:03, 6:48, 6:53, 6:29, 6:46, 6:23, 7:13, 7:17, 6:48, 6:55. Another tough workout but I think I could have pushed a bit harder especially on the 7:13 and 7:17 intervals.

4 recovery miles this morning.  At the end of mile 1, I realized that I was running a little faster than I should for a recovery run.  I slowed down and tried to stay at about 75% of my max HR.  I wasn't too consistent.  There was a bit of a headwind that started affecting me at mile 2 and then a slight uphill at mile 3.

I planned on running 15-16 miles this morning but my stomach wouldn't let me.  I had to turn around and only got 5 miles in.  Definitely not feeling well.  I did however do one of the harder Insanity workouts with my wife.

I made a mistake yesterday and gave blood.  I've felt quite a bit more tired during and after the workout that I would have expected.  That's the last time I do that during training.

Ten miles late last night to try and and get going again after a bit of an unplanned break this weekend. When I got up to Wasatch Blvd parts of the road were pretty slick from the melting snow.

Lunch run with Jason.  This is the first run for a long time that I've been able to wear shorts.

I did a 5 mile marathon effort on a hilly loop this morning.  There was also a southerly wind that made things a little tougher on the loop.  Here are the splits: 6:29, 7:30, 6:35, 7:54, 6:36.  The splits alternated uphill and downhill.  Body feels good.

No headphones and some nice warm weather.  A very relaxing lunch run.

The first three miles were surprisingly easy and then I turned around to head back to work and felt the stiff headwind.

My longest run ever and the weather was perfect.  I would have done 17 miles even, but my watch ran out of memory (I hadn't uploaded my runs for a few days) and I had to stop the workout and sync it with my phone.  Then I had to start a new workout and didn't exactly remember how many miles I had gone.  I did a fast last mile (7:03).  My left hip was hurting a little but I don't think it's serious.

I slept in this morning and had to run at lunch.  After my run on Saturday my IT band was hurting but it didn't bother me at all during the run today.  Just need to remember to stretch it.

4 x 1 mi with 3min jog recovery. My times were: 6:33, 6:29, 6:22, 6:28. It band on my left knee was bothering me a little during the intervals so I did some stretching after the workout.

I took a day off yesterday partly out of laziness and partly out of trying to let my IT band heal. Instead of doing a workout today I just did an easy 3.5 miles to see if my knee would be bothered. During the run I it felt a little strange but didn't hurt. Now afew hours llater it's hurting a little when I walk. I'm glad I took it easy.

Did 4 miles in the evening.  I didn't feel any problems with my knee.  Stretched and iced it after the run.  If it still doesn't hurt I'll do my hill workout on Saturday.

Since my knee didn't hurt all day Saturday, I had big plans to do my 5 x 2 min hill repeats on Saturday night.  Problem was my wife and I went out to the Copper Onion Saturday evening and I ate too much bone marrow.  I was way too full to do a workout after that.  I even waited until 11:00 pm but there was no way.

I did the workout this morning instead.  My IT band started hurting just a little at the beginning but I continued.  I stretched and iced afterward and it feels good now.  I can't believe two days off didn't completely heal me.

5 x 2 min hill repeats, jog back to start, 7.3% incline

7:29, 7:28, 7:37, 7:49, 7:46

I did my 6 miles marathon pace workout in the evening

6:39, 6:44, 6:52, 6:50, 6:52, 6:50

Again I figured 48 hours off might be enough for my knee to heal.  I was wrong.  It started hurting at about mile 4 of the workout and stupidly I kept going. I stretched and iced after.

Maybe I need to stop doing workouts and just run 4 slow miles daily like Andrea told me to do last week.

A few easy miles this morning.  No workouts for the next while, just 30 min a day of easy running.  And stretching and icing to help my IT band.

4 miles Saturday evening.

Not much to say.  Slow miles.

Just for fun I did a quick 2 x 1:00 min at 6:30 min pace.  I also did some cross training interval exercises during lunch.  I really need to add on more strength training and cross training activities to supplement running.

A little cooler this morning but nice.  I did 4 miles at 7:45 min pace.  I felt my knee a little but I think it's improving.

I completely over-dressed this morning.  That was one of the hottest slow runs I've done.

I did my run at lunch today and at the end decided to do a fast mile.  The whole mile was either uphill or into a nice headwind so I felt pretty good about my time: 6:39.

Over the weekend I started doing some clamshell exercies to help with my IT band pain.  I wrap a band around my legs, lay on my side and with bend legs lift my top leg.  I hold it for 10 seconds and then repeat.  10 repeats and 3 sets for each leg.  I'm a little sore today.

Four treadmill miles because I didn't want to go out in the cold. I think my IT band is healing. It's not hurting as much anymore.

The warm days we've had lately have turned me into a wuss when the temperature drops to freezing but I went out anyway this morning.  I should have done some fast miles today because I felt good.  Tomorrow I'll try to do a tempo run or something.

I decided to do a workout today and Andrea recommended 6 x 0.5 mi with 0.25 jog recovery.  I started out slow to make sure my knee wouldn't start hurting and luckily throughout the repeats my knee didn't hurt.

6:45, 6:24, 6:16, 6:17, 6:07, 5:35

It was tough for me to stay on my target pace for each repeat since it's been a couple of weeks since I've done any fast miles. I pushed hard on the last one. When I was cooling down I started feeling some slight discomfort in my knee but I still think it's healing now.

A few nice sunny miles Friday afternoon on the Sandy Rail Trail.

7:57 pace

I started out this afternoon to do a moderately long run. After the first mile I felt really good so I decided to do more of a workout. 6 miles at marathon pace: 6:49, 6:48, 6:52, 6:44, 6:52, 6:53. I felt great and I still feel good. No knee discomfort at all. I took a little risk but I think it paid off.

7 mile loop in Sandy with some hills.  Still no IT band pain.

3 miles at marathon pace: 6:51, 6:54, 7:00.  Still no knee pain.  I think I'll take tomorrow off, run a few miles on Friday and then race day.  It's been a long time (middle of Nov) since I've raced so I'm really excited for this one.

I got a balance board last night to help strengthen my abductor and adductor muscles.  After about 10 min I was able to stay on it without falling off.  Now it's time for some kick-flips and shuv-its.  Hopefully it will be a fun way to keep some strength in those under used muscles.

A little warmer this morning. I just did a few miles around my block.

The weather looks good for tomorrow's Buffalo run high 40s to 50s for the whole thing. I'm going to try to get under 2:20.

It was really windy and cold when I got out of the car at the parking area and I started worrying that I didn't bring the right clothes.  Luckily, I didn't change my plan because it warmed up during the race.  I ran about a 0.5 mile warm up and then got up to the starting line at a few minutes before 9:00 am.  The race director delayed the start until 9:10 because there was such a long line of racers in the port-a-potty line.

When the gun went off, I started way too fast.  I'm not sure why.  That wasn't my plan.  I guess it's my inexperience with racing.  I wanted to go fast on the flats knowing that the hills wouldn't be my strength.  When I started up the first hill I tried to keep up with the leading group and I know that took a lot of my energy.

On the second major hill at about mile 5, the two guys I had been running with left me.  I couldn't keep up.  That's when I realized I'm weak on hills.  This left me in 6th place.  I took just a few gulps of water at the aid station.

At the bottom of the hill in the flat section there were a few bison on either side of the trail.  The two guys in front of me successfully threaded the needle.  Then one of the bison that was only about 20 feet off the trail started walking towards the trail.  I tried not to look it in the eyes and just kept going.

The distance between me and the other two guys kept growing gradually until the switchbacks on the third hill and then they were essentially gone (mile 8).  This section of the trail was really pretty.  Tons of cliffs and rocks all around.  The trail got a little more rocky too.  Near the end of that loop of the trail I came up over a ridge and the northerly wind hit me.  My eyes started watering and I had a hard time navigating all the rocks as the trail started declining steeply.  It was all I could do not to trip.

I made it to the aid station (mile 11) and drank a couple of gulps of gatorade.  I maybe should have drunk more or eaten a little because soon after the aid station I started slowing down.  The last big hill at mile 12 really got me.  Before that hill there had been no one in sight behind me.  Around 13.75 miles I started getting passed by 25k runners.  My thighs and calves were extremely tight and I just couldn't get my legs to turn over quick enough.  I had kept a pretty steady heart rate around 172 but it dropped significantly.  My muscles were shot from the hills.  A couple more runners passed me and my mental state got worse.  It was all downhill from here but I just couldn't keep up.  There was a very slight incline just before the finish line that slowed me way down.  It felt as bad as the second hill even though it was nothing.

Here are my splits: 

The race was a lot of fun and I enjoyed the trail and scenery.  Antelope Island is really cool.  I just know I could have performed better.  I needed more long runs with more elevation gain in the last month or so, but my knee problems prevented that from happening.  I should have started out a more moderate pace.  More water and maybe something to eat would have helped a little.

This was my first run after Saturday's race. I feel good.

We had our annual Indoor Triathalon at work today (run 2 mi, eliptical 1 mi, bike 4 mi).  I ran the 2 miles in 11:30 (5:45 min pace).  I didn't have much energy left over for the eliptical and the bike.

My brother and I went along the Bonneville Shoreline Trail south to Corner Canyon.  It probably wasn't that smart to go on a longish run when I haven't been out in a week, but I was hoping that going slow would make it okay.  The last downhil was slightly painful for my left knee, but after the run I didn't feel any IT band pain.  Next week I'm back on a schedule.  I'm thinking of doing the Timpanogos Trail Half on 5/24.

Lunch run with Andrea.  This weather is really motivating me to run.  I probably should have put sunscreen on.

8 x 30s with equal jog recovery. Here are the paces:

5:19, 5:24, 5:15, 5:32, 5:28, 5:24, 5:20, 5:07

I had a beautiful day to do this workout and ended up doing it at 10:00 pm. At least the temperature was nice. I gotta stop doing dark runs.

Thanks Andrea for inviting me on a run with you Allie and Devra.  My 2-week break and the hotter weather made this run a little more difficult for me than normal at a 7:45 min pace.  At least I hope that's the case because I don't have anything else to blame.  The cooldown for my run last night was at a slower pace than normal.  I think it all means that I just need to get back on a regular running schedule.

After work played about 30 min of frisbee.

7:43 pace and I felt good. My heart rate didn't go up high like it did on Wed. I guess Wed was just a blip.

Ran a section of the Timp Trail Half Marathon course with my brother Mark. My knee was hurting on many of the ups and downs.

I ran 8 miles this morning up 106th South into Dimple Dell.  My knee starting hurting off and on up the hill and then a little down the hill.  I guess I need to stop doing hills.

My heart rate monitor says I was at 180 bpm for a lot of the run but it must have been off because it was a very casual run.  Maybe I didn't have it on right.  I'll watch it this week.

A short night run after packing for camping trip to Capitol Reef.

Had a nice visit with Dr Poulsen this afternoon to discuss the instability with my shoulder.  I'm excited to finally start dealing with it.  Thank you Andrea for the referral.

My family and I went to Teasdale, Utah for a vacation and I did a little running. I did 10 x 1 min the first night get we got there. It was cold and I had a bit of a tailwind at times explaining some of my faster times. 5:49, 5:57, 5:34, 5:25, 4:55, 4:53, 4:55, 5:43, 5:36, 6:57.

I was cold and tired on #10 and maybe the tailwind decreased a little. This would have been a lot better had I done it during the day.

6 mile loop on the Great Western Trail with my friend Abe. We got turned around a little but the sun was out and the temp was nice.

4 miles with Cody and his dog on some dirt roads around Teasdale. Then I went on a 3 mile tempo: 6:43, 6:45, 7:06. The last mile had a little hill and I was really feeling the 7300 ft.

I'm going to buy a place in Teasdale to retire.

Night run after getting home from Capitol Reef. It would have been nice to do this run before coming home but I had a rough night with kids in the tent.

Warm run tonight. No knee pain for a week but I haven't done any steep hills which seem to trigger it.

6 x 400m on the Jordan HS track at lunch. 86, 91, 89, 91, 86, 86.

I couldn't get myself out of bed earlier enough to do more than 3 miles.  Late night with my 2 year old kid.

4 mile tempo on a late lunch break.  6:37, 6:51, 6:51, 6:55.  My heart rate was climbing more than normal and I don't think it was a problem with my monitor.  168, 178, 176, 183.  The last mile felt very difficult.  There was a little wind but not enough to explain a 183.  

6 miles on the treadmill at lunch.  I know it's possible to run in the rain, but I just had no desire to.  Same thing happened on Saturday and I didn't get a long run in.  I need to man up.

I went to Alta HS this morning to do a track workout.

4x800m w/400m jog recovery

3:09, 3:05, 3:04, 3:05

4x200m w/200m jog recovery

40, 40, 39, 40

As I finished my knee started bothering me a little. I've been avoiding hills because they've triggered IT pain. But the guess a good workout also affects my knee.

Just a few miles this morning.  My knee started hurting after about 3 miles.  I haven't been doing my knee exercises consistently.

I did a 4-mile tempo this evening on the Sandy Rail Trail.

6:44, 6:52, 6:49, 6:39

I wasn't very steady on my times but I felt good. And no knee pain.

I need to figure out my next race. Initially, I wanted to do a trail run but with my IT band problems it's probably better to do a flatter road race.

6 miles this evening. I ran a slightly faster pace than normal because I felt rested.

I ran my Wasatch Blvd loop backwards from the south. From this direction it felt like there was a lot more elevation gain (900 ft). The wind was really blowing and my headlamp made it easy to see all the dust I was inhaling. Surprisingly I had no IT band pain. My knees are a little tender but it's just because I haven't done a lot run in a while.

Lunch run from work.  I felt really good and went a little faster than my usual easy runs.  

I need to start doing 8-10 miles on Mondays.  I'm well rested from my Sunday off and I need another longish day.

1600m with 400m jog plus 4 x 400m with 200m jog:

5:55, 1:32, 1:28, 1:27, 1:22

Workout was a good one. I'm glad I was able to do some negative splits on the 400s after the faster than planned 1600m. And no knee pain.

I was initially planning on doing the Timp Trail Half at the end of this month but I don't want to stress my knee too much. I'm going to do some 5ks instead in the next couple of months.

4 miles in the evening.

5 mi tempo tonight.

6:52, 6:46, 6:47, 6:46, 6:44

I'm pleased with these times. I was trying to keep close to 6:50 but it felt fine just a touch faster.

Knee feels fine, but I think I pulled my left hip flexor a couple of days ago playing frisbee. It doesn't really bother me except if I quickly accelerate.

I took Friday through Sunday off and just ran 4 miles today at lunch.  My hip didn't hurt during the run but I could feel that any quick acceleration could strain it again.  I need to take it easy.

Three miles around the BD 5k loop.  This was a short run because I wanted to make sure not to strain whatever hip flexor muscle was hurting.  It felt good and now I think I could do a track workout or a tempo.  I won't be playing frisbee all week so that will ensure I don't accelerate too fast.

5 mi tempo

6:41, 6:47, 6:44, 6:46, 6:43

Felt good but my hip was a bit tight. No pain.

6 miles in the evening along the Sandy Rail Trail.

6 x 800m with 400m jog
2:55, 2:57, 2:58, 3:00, 3:02, 3:11

How about some positive splits.  Not intentional.  The last two laps were extremely difficult for me.  I just blew up at the end.  I did the workout at the hottest time of the day (4:00 PM) on the hottest day of the week (78° F) and didn't bring any water.  The heat killed me.  My HR monitor recorded the highest rate ever at 195 bpm.

Had a nice slow jog on Saturday night on a new route.  It was very pleasant.

The 8 x 15s strides Andrea had me do went very well.  I rested until about 105 to 107 bpm before each interval. I was able to focus on form.

I did a few miles in the evening.  I really need to start running in the morning and I've got to get out of the habit.

I ran the 3rd annual BD 5k today in 19:36 (5:55, 6:33, 6:33, 0:34).  I beat last year's time by 3 minutes.  It's a tough course that loops around BD.  The hardest part is a 3-4% grade that you hit twice.  There was also a bit of a southerly wind that we ran against right after the hill.  

10 miles in the morning. With all the time off (I haven't run since Wednesday) I felt really good and ran a bit faster than normal, about 7:30. At he very end of it I felt just a twinkle of pain in my knee.

4 x 1200m with 400m jog.

4:33, 4:30, 4:30, 4:30

I probably could have gone for 4:25 or faster but I was worried about tweaking my knee. Luckily no knee pain this morning.

5 miles this morning.

Could everyone please set your sprinklers to run sometime before 6:00 AM?  And do we all really need to be watering the concrete and asphalt?  How can it be 2014 and our society hasn't figured these things out?

3 mi tempo
6:35, 6:34, 6:37

The instantaneous pace on my watch is usually pretty good: not too sensitive so that's jumping all over the place but gives me a pretty good idea how fast I'm going. This morning it seemed to be a bit slow to react to pace changes. I should have been looking at average lap pace but I don't usually have trouble with the instantaneous pace. The other problem was that my legs kept wanting to go faster than planned and I didn't have a great feel for 6:40 pace.

7 mi this morning.

I had a full Saturday and couldn't run in the morning so I wanted until 10 pm to go. But it was very hard by then to find the motivation. I had been up late on Friday I was super tired but the run went well. It was just a little shorter than I had hoped.

No knee pain today or yesterday.

I got my wife Mandy to run this morning.  With her permission, I signed her up for a 5k that's a month away.  She ran for 25 min and said it was boring.  But she's committed to run at least three times a week until the race.

1600-1200-800-400-200 with 400m jog in between.

6:00, 4:27, 2:53, 1:26, 38

Workout went well this morning.  This was the first time I had tried a step-down type workout.  I was able to speed up a little for each rep.  The only problem was the 400m where I was a second slower than my goal.  I'm not too worried about it because the others were all on target or faster than target.

Three miles this morning.

2 x 2mi w/ 3 min jog between

6:32, 6:31, 6:33, 6:32

Good workout for me.  I felt solid the whole time except for when I was messing with my watch a little.  I set it to do the reps for me without pushing the lap button, but I guess I set the interval at 1 mile instead of 2.  Sometimes it's just easier to push the lap button and forget about watch features.

Night run.

I did 13 miles in about 110 minutes on my Wasatch Blvd loop that has 1000 ft of elevation gain. I really wanted to run during the day but I just couldn't get out. My left knee felt great. No pain at all. I forgot to charge my headlamp and it cut out at mile 12 after being pretty dim the whole run.

I ran through some neighborhoods that I don't normally run through.  It was refreshing to go to different areas.  A couple of dogs charged me, but backed down when I kept coming at them.  It was a good morning.

1600m - 2 x 800 - 1600m w/400m jog in between

5:55, 2:56, 2:56, 5:56

The workout today was very good.  I felt like my form was right and I wasn't exhausted at the end.

4 mile run in the evening.

5 mi tempo

6:52, 6:53, 6:51, 6:52, 6:47

I missed my target pace of 6:50 and my instantaneous pace varied a fair amount. This was a tough workout. I'm not sure why. Possibly because I haven't been getting enough hours of sleep this week.

Slow three miles on Friday evening.

My brother and I went up Little Cottonwood and ran to Hidden Peak from the Mid Gad lift. He's signed up for the Speedgoat 50k and wanted to try part of the course before the race in July. We got up in an hour and a half and were frozen from the wind and no sun. Luckily, the ski patrol hut was open and the heater was on. We warmed up for 15 min and then cruised down the same way we came up. This was a lot longer run than I planned but it was fun and had some great views.

My IT band hasn't hurt in quite a while.  I was a little worried about the run at Snowbird on Saturday but I felt great after.  I just need to remember to keep up the clamshell exercises so the pain doesn't come back.  

8x200m with 200m jog 40, 39, 37, 35, 34, 33, 32, 31 I didn't intend this to be a progression workout, I just didn't want to start out fast and get slower by the last rep. As it turned out I'm pretty happy with the times. But maybe it would have been better though to keep it steady around 34s.

I ordered a pair of A5s and had to test them out this evening.  I really like them.  Not as narrow and long as the A6s and they feel just as light.  An 8.5 fits me perfectly.

8 x 15s strides on the Alta track this morning.  Went well and I loved the shoes.  I've been pretty busy with work and haven't been able to do as many miles this week.  However, my legs feel a little more fatigued than usual.  Possibly because of the 3800ft I did on Saturday or the 8 x 200m strides on Tuesday.  Hopefully I can recover a bit for the American Fork 5k on Saturday.

During my lunch break on Friday I drove down to American Fork to pick up my packet. It took a little over an hour. I really wish they would have had the option for me to pick up my packet directly before the race.

I arrived at AF high school at about 6:30 am and found a parking spot fairly close to the starting line. After a little over 2 miles of warm-up I started toward the starting line and did about 4 strides (10s each).

I got up to the starting line with a couple of minutes to go. Then Kate Hansen, the luge Olympian, gave the countdown and fire the pistol. A group of about a dozen went out at an unsustainable pace. I was just behind this group that was led by a few preteens and two high-school age boys. At 0.5 miles we came to a steep hill that throttled the pack nicely. The hill was only a quarter of a mile but by the top, I had passed almost everyone in the group. One of my goals for this race was to keep my speed in check at the beginning and it paid off. Down the other side of the hill I passed a few more and could see three guys in front of me quite a ways off. The gap closed a little with the second and third place guys slowing down slightly. By mile 2 I couldn't see the guy in front and the other two were running side by side.

With about 0.25 miles left there was a small hill that slowed the two guys in front of me. Now they were within 10 seconds. I kept pushing to catch them but wasn't able to. Just before the finish line, the third place guy ducked under the rope on the side of the course. I ended up finishing 7 seconds behind the guy in front of me. And I was surprised to see my uncle volunteering in the finishing area to give me a bottle of water.

I cooled down for about 1.5 miles and hung out for a bit in the nice weather. I was still a little confused about whether I got 3rd or 4th because the results kiosk said 4th but I knew the 3rd place guy bandited the race. I stuck around anyway and was happy to get a certificate for a free pair of shoes.

Splits from my watch. A little different than my official time.

6:04, 5:59, 6:00, 34

I started out a little stiff but it didn't last long and had a good run.  

My wife and kids have been camping in Big Cottonwood this week so I've joined them in the evenings after work.  Tuesday evening I was able to run on some of the bike trails at Solitude.  I did the first couple of miles with my brother-in-law and then kept going until it got dark.  The original plan this week was to do a 4-mile tempo but I decided to postpone the tempo for Wednesday evening when I'll be able to be on pavement with less elevation gain.

4 mile tempo

6:36, 6:37, 6:37, 6:27

The workout went well but I did it too late in the evening. I really need to start focusing on getting enough hours of sleep. It's going to start affecting my training before too long.

I like running after it rains.  Everything is just a little damp, it smells nice and it's just humid enough.

6 x 800m

3:01, 2:57, 2:54, 2:51, 2:51, 2:50

Tough workout. It took me three reps to find my pace (I was aiming for 2:55) and then I over compensated a bit. My last rep didn't feel that good and I was surprised that it was my fastest. The temperature was really nice and cool. Much better than Wednesday's tempo.

So much for my goal to get more hours of sleep; it's 1:30 in the AM and my kids will be waking me up no later than 7:00 AM.

Tonight's run was up Dimple Dell on the Northern trail. Then I took Dimple Dell road down to 106th South. I was out for 91 min and I saw some ferrel cats, deer and a suspicious man just milling around on the trail.

8 x 200m

33, 34, 34, 33, 33, 32, 32, 31

I'm very happy about this workout. I was consistent and pushed myself.

For some crazy reason I'm in St George this week. It was 80 degrees F when my brother, sister and I went out this morning at 6am.

Hot. It was 80 degrees F at the 6:30 am start time. My wife, brother, sister and Mom all ran this race with me. We got there around 6:05 to pick up our packets which took a little longer than expected. This caused the race to be delayed by about 5 min. The first packet I was given didn't have any safety pins. No one seemed to know where I could get some. I brought extras from home but lost them somewhere. I ended up grabbing another packet after I realized that it didn't matter which bib number I had. There was no chip on the bib. This packet also didn't have any pins. The third packet had some pics and I was off on my warm up. There wasn't much time now so I just got in a mile with about 4 strides.

The course was an out and back along the parade route in downtown St George, Utah starting at the Dixie Bowl Stadium.

At the starting line there were about 6 high-school cross country boys that were going to be hard to beat. They went out fast and I was only able to catch a couple of them by the end. I stayed consistent for the first two miles (6:04, 6:05) but felt like I couldn't go any faster because of the heat. Not too far in front of me was probably the only other older guy near the front of the race. During the last mile (5:55) I sped up a bit to overtake him. I passed him with about a quarter of a mile to go. The course was a little short (3.05 mi) based on my watch. I'm not sure of my place because the high school kids probably did around 17:00.

6:04, 6:05, 5:55, 11

At Bear Lake for the weekend and did some miles in the hills.

Did a few miles around home this morning.

I've officially started my training cycle for the St George marathon in October.

5mi tempo

6:55, 6:47, 6:48, 6:44, 6:44

I had planned to do 6 miles but I just wasn't feeling it on the sixth mile so I cut it short. The plan was to do 4 to 6 miles so I'm fine with 5.

These 4 miles were a little slower than usual. Around 9 min pace. I was feeling a bit tight.

12x200m

37, 37, 35, 34, 35, 35, 35, 35, 34, 34, 34, 32

I did these at the Alta track as per usual. It took me a couple intervals to find the right pace and then things just kept steady.

A quick run this morning over to Lone Peak Park.

The plan was to do 14 miles, but I tried a new route and didn't really spend much time mapping it out. At just over halfway I started to realize this loop was going to be a bit long. I went up to Highland, to Creek Road, to Wasatch and down Dimple Dell road. It took 2:10 and I averaged 8:25.

A medium-long run this morning.  It took me 1:21:00 at 8:10 min pace.

6x800m

3:06, 3:07, 3:02, 3:01, 3:02, 3:01

I wwent a little faster than my goal pace of 3:05 but I felt good throughout and at the end. I only did the minimum slow miles so that I don't go too far over 40 miles for the week. I stay on 40 miles for 2 more weeks then bump up to 45.

I went camping in central Utah (Boulder Mountain) over the weekend. The entire plateau is at 10,000 ft. I was excited to get some good trail running in, but this run turned into somewhat of an overland run. It was beautiful but not much trail to follow. The woods are sparse and there are a lot of meadows so it wasn't too bad. Just a little rough on the ankles.

I decided to stick to a graded dirt road for this run. The road had a lot of rolling hills and at 10,000 ft the hills were tough. My total elevation gain was 1000 ft. For the last 3 miles I sped up.

Total Time: 1:54

3mi Finish

6:54, 7:03, 6:59

6 mi Tempo

6:53, 6:51, 6:45, 6:50, 6:52, 6:51

I got really wet this morning but my times were good. It was nice to get back to a reasonable elevation.

8x300m

1:00, 1:04, 1:01, 1:00, 0:58, 1:03, 0:59, 1:00

Good workout at Alta High, but I don't think I did exactly 300m for each of my intervals. I think the 1:04 and 1:03 laps were long. I need to figure out the markings on the track.

I went up to Little Cottonwood from home and gained about 1400 ft in the first 8 miles. A couple of miles up the canyon I turned around and got the downhill miles I needed. I even got to be a part of the La Caille 7k for a little bit.

My run this morning was wet until about an hour into it. But it made for a nice cool run. I was well rested from the day off yesterday so I was able to go a little faster: 7:40 min pace.

4x1200m

4:36, 4:33, 4:36, 4:26

My legs were very tender for the first few minutes. Lately my feet and legs are slow to get up to speed in the mornings.

6.1 miles

16 mi

Total Time: 2:11

4mi fast finish

6:50, 6:58, 7:02, 6:55

I went on the Porter Rockwell trail to the Draper temple, dropped into Corner Canyon, took the Bonneville Shoreline trail North and then took Wasatch back home.

I didn't take any water or fuel, but I've started worrying about how my body is going to react to food and water during the race. I might start eating race food at specific times during training runs.

4 miles

I had planned to do 2 x 4 mi with 0.5 mile jog in between, but my watch bugged out on me and screwed things up a bit. I was using the Interval feature on it and during the second rep it rebooted. When it came back to life it thought I was just starting my second rep. I ended up just clicking through the last rep, rest lap and cool down to get to the end of the workout. Then I just started it back up again. The problem was I didn't know how far I was into the second rep. I guessed, but didn't guess right and ended the second rep at 3.4 mi.

I've had my watch reboot before during a workout but somehow it's been able to stay in the workout when it booted up again. Not sure what happened today

Here are my average paces:

6:52, 6:51

4 miles

8x400m (400m)
1:22, 1:25, 1:28, 1:26, 1:29, 1:28, 1:27, 1:27

It's been a long time since I've done a lunch workout at Jordan High. I thought I would sleep in and take advantage of the cooler weather in the day. That was a mistake. It was hot. My first lap was way too fast but then I settled in at a good pace. I really had to drink a lot of water after this run to stave off the headache I could feel coming on.

4 mi

I think this video is about a month old but I hadn't seen it until Radio West on KUER linked to it.  Great description of running.

http://vimeo.com/100239728

19.4 miles

Total Time: 2:42

Pace: 8:24

I started at 5am on this run and headed over to the Jordan River Parkway and went south. On the trail I saw a guy riding his bike with an iPod tapped to the side of his helmet. Seemed like a good idea, no armband needed. Then I went over to the Draper canal trail. This was my longest run to date. I was planning on going 20 miles but had to get home to take my girls so they could run a mile race in Highland.

Over the last week or so I've been feeling some slight pain in my heels. Mostly my left heel. I feels the worst in the mornings and after I've been sitting after a long run like today's. I think it might be insertional Achilles tendinitis because the pain is on the back and sides of my heels and my calves have been tight lately. I'm going to start doing some eccentric heel drops and maybe get a new pair of shoes.

I did 6 miles in my old Pegasus's this morning at a slower pace (9:03) than usual.  I had planned to do 10 miles but Andrea said I should do shorter runs this week to hopefully prevent this heel or Achilles pain from getting worse.  I'm hoping that running in a shoe with a higher heel stack height will take some force off my Achilles.  I didn't feel any pain during the run.  I only felt a little pain this morning when I got out of bed.

Slow today in an effort to not aggravate my heel pain.  It feels like there's slight bruising on the sides and top of my heel.

I used a heating pad to warm up my Achilles and heel area.  A little faster than yesterday.  Felt about the same.

Not bad this morning.  Still feeling a little bit of slight discomfort on my heel that I can't quite describe. I did 5 x 1 min without it increasing the discomfort.

4.4 miles

10.3 miles

5mi fast finish

6:56, 7:04, 6:57, 7:00, 6:59

I only did 33 miles this week to try and give my left foot a rest. Today's run felt about the same as the rest of the week. But the last 5 miles that I did at just slower than marathon pace felt good.

I've got the Emigration Canyon Half next Saturday and I think it's going to be fun. They sent me an email with the names of all 105 registered runners. Small race.

8.1 miles this morning on the Porter Rockwell trail.  Initially felt some pain in my heel but it went away quickly.  

4 x 1600m (400m)
6:03, 5:56, 5:59, 6:00

This workout felt really good until the cooldown, no pain at all.  Once I slowed down my heel really started hurting.  I thought about walking home but kept going at a slow jog.  The rest of the day I was limping around a lot.  I probably messed up any recovery I gained from last week's low mileage.

4 miles

4 miles.  Not much pain today.

1 - 7:47 2 - 8:03 3 - 7:24 4 - 8:11 5 - 5:56 6 - 6:00 7 - 6:19 8 - 6:18 9 - 6:35 10 - 7:22 11 - 6:41 12 - 7:20 13 - 7:19 Everything thing was going well up the 4 mile hill and I had a good pace starting the downhill. Then at mile 9 my heel started hurting bad. By mile 10, I gave up 4th place. I think I ended up 6th or 7th place. I expected to feel some discomfort on my heel/Achilles but I was hoping it wouldn't slow me down too much. Disappointing.

1 slow mile and 30 min on bike in the gym.  After an entire week off, I'm not limping anymore while just walking around so I thought I'd give running a chance.  It hurt.  Not as painful as the race but still bad.  Andrea thinks it might be bursitis.  This makes sense because the tops and sides of my heel are sore when I apply pressure.  It gets better with time but I don't have a ton of time until the St. George Marathon and I still have a lot of training to do.

45 minutes on the elliptical.  I think I can do some elliptical and stationary bike workouts so that I don't completely atrophy.

1 mile at about 9 min pace.  Faster than my mile on Monday.  Still a little pain but it's better.  40 min on elliptical.

3.3 miles.  Minor heel discomfort.

3.7 miles in Baltimore.  My heel hurt more than yesterday.  I forgot to take some Ibuprofen after yesterday's run and that probably didn't help.

45 min on the elliptical

30 min on the elliptical

4 mi

14.5 mi pacing my friend Bryan while he did miles 61 through 75 of the Bear 100. He came into the aid station where I was waiting at midnight and we ran until just before 6:00am. It was rainy and muddy most of the way which slowed us down a lot. Actually it was probably more of a hike than a run but at least my heel didn't hurt. That gave me some confidence that I'll be able to finish St George in a week.

5 mi and no heel pain.

Coming into this race I wasn't sure if I'd be able to finish it.  Seven weeks earlier my heel started hurting and I didn't know what it was (now I think it was bursitis).  I cut my mileage down for two weeks hoping it would go away before the Emigration Canyon Half but it flared up during the race.  For the next five weeks I hardly ran any miles.  So during my whole training cycle I only got on 20 mile run it and next to nothing for the last five weeks.  My goal for the race was to DNF if my heel started hurting and to just finish if it didn't hurt.

I entered the lottery with my friend, Brent, from elementary school and a few of his friends that I didn't know.  We all rode the bus to the starting line together.  When the bus stopped at about 6:00 AM we saw the flags at the starting line blowing in a nice tailwind for the race and were glad that it wasn't too cold.  We didn't even try to get close to the line and stayed back near the 4:15 pace group before the race started.  For some reason the race was delayed by about 15 minutes and when we crossed the starting line we were about 6 minutes behind the gun.

Not 30 seconds after I crossed the starting line I stepped on a discarded trashbag that was caught on the foot of a lady in front of me.  She tripped and then went down to the ground.  I apologized and helped her up.  She may have gotten a little road burn, but didn't seem hurt.  Now it was just me and Brent's friend Ben.  I stayed with Ben for a couple of miles and then picked up the pace.

Luckily, my heel never started hurting throughout the race.  Unfortunately, the multiple weeks without long, downhill runs really hurt my performance.  But at least I was able to finish.  The last few miles were extremely difficult with legs that were not accustomed to the long miles and elevation drop.  I just did not anticipate it being as difficult as it was.  For some reason I thought if my heel didn't hurt I could just continue at a moderate pace fairly easily.  26 miles is a long way for a beginner.  But I had a lot of fun and would do it again.

After trying to push the limits for time off after a race, I'm back with a 3.3 mi vengeance. It was very slow. For some reason my right hamstring felt tight and hurt just a little. This is the sane hamstring that bothered me in the spring. I think I need to stretch out and roll it. I'm also going to focus on stretching and rolling my calves to keep them from being perpetually tight.

3.7 mi

4 miles at lunch

5 mi in the morning with tights on.

4.3 mi

3.7 mi. After the run I realized that my right hamstring didn't bother me at all. Maybe the magic eccentric hamstring stretch worked.

5.6 miles.  I really planned on running last week while I was on vacation at Disneyland, but at the end of each day my legs felt like they had already been on a run.  I'm not sure those miles in Fantasy Land count though.

5 mi

4x400m (400m)

1:24, 1:27, 1:26, 1:25

My first workout in quite a while.

BD 5k

20:55

6:15, 7:01, 7:04, 0:36

Weather was perfect. I just wish I would have prepared myself more. I have had a tough time motivating myself to get out of bed in the mornings to train. In May I ran this course in 19:37.

5.1 mi

5 mi

Mandy and I ran it with strollers. I had Claire (7) and Alice (3) in a double stroller and Mandy had Jane (5). I haven't really run much with a stroller and it wasn't that bad except for the couple of hills on the course. They killed my time.

8.2 mi. Super windy

6.1 mi

4x800m (400m)

2:58, 3:02, 3:01, 3:02

I didn't have a plan to do this workout until this morning but I figured it couldn't hurt.

4.1 mi

6 miles

7.1 mi. Lately, I feel like my heart rate has been higher than it should be on my easy runs, but this morning's run felt right. Maybe after all that time off I'm starting to build a foundation of fitness up again. I've just got to keep it up and make sure I run every day. At some point soon I'm going to have to finalize a real plan for my next race, the Canyonlands Half Marathon, at the end of March.

6 mi

3.6 mi

5 mi and I completely overdressed for the warm weather.

11 mi with my girls Alice and Jane in a stroller. The last half was very wet for me and the girls were able to sleep.

6 mi