You're an office park without any trees.....

Big Workout -

I looked back at my training last year and this week last year I did a big workout that I thought I would repeat today.  It consisted of a 5 mile brisk warmup on the TOU marathon course to mile 18, then picked it up to Tinman Tempo pace for 2.5 miles more (on hollow road) before turning around and continuing all the way home (10 miles total) at TT pace.  It went like this...

Warmup miles - 7:10, 6:57, 7:08, 6:54, 6:55

Tempo stuff - 6:30 up, 6:28 up, 6:20 up/down, 6:13 down, 6:16 down, 6:38 millville hill, 6:34 rest of the hill, 6:27 down, 6:26 flat, 6:17 flat

It went pretty well.  That is other than being cold (below 40 outside), especially my hands.  They were totally frozen.  Must be time to break out the gloves.  I was able to beat my total time from last year by 1:45.  It was about 10 seconds a mile faster during the tempo miles.

T-1:39:15 (6:37) 161 ave 170 max

AM: Providence Hills loop. Still taking it easy as a post-race recovery. Soreness is gone, but the fatigue is there. I will likely be fatigued through Thanksgiving so whatever...Warm and smoky out today.

T-62:27 (7:40) 8.15 miles 147

PM: Took advantage of Beth and the kids being gone for the evening (they are at my sister's bridal shower) and ran up Green Canyon after work.  Pretty nice weather.  It had cooled off pretty good by then.  Nice and slow on the way up (1150 foot net gain).  I ran 4 miles which put me just past the end of the road and up the single-track about a quarter mile.  4 miles in 38 min.  Turned around and picked it up.  Passed 2 bikers on the way down to a 26 min split for the way down.  In all, it was 6 miles of singletrack and 2 miles of dirt road.  Good run.

T-64:00 (8:00) 8 miles 149

AM: Easy miles on my easiest / flattest route. Young Ward loop. It was dark for the first 3 miles. If it weren't still 97 degrees in the afternoon, I would think that fall was coming. I am still a bit sore from Sat, especially right behind the knee (upper calf). Overall, not too bad though.

T-1:14:00 (7:20) 10.1 miles 147

PM: 5 Easy miles in the hot sun.  Ran into Jon by the aquatic center and he followed me home.  Still tired, but not very sore anymore.

Harold Journal (Cache Valley Paper) Article today-

http://hjnews.townnews.com/articles/2008/08/24/sports/sports03.txt 

Record set at half marathon

PROVIDENCE — Favored with overcast skies and chilly temperatures, the Cache Sun & Snow Running Club Top of Utah Half Marathon kicked off Saturday morning with a record turnout, beginning in Blacksmith Fork Canyon and ending at Zollinger Park.

With the race up nearly 500 runners from 2007, race director Kris Siddoway credited the jump in registration to recent trends and Cache Sun & Snow’s reputation for putting on good races.

“We went from 708 runners last year and ... we know that we had 1,195 runners cross the start line with their chips (this year),” Siddoway said. “... We try really, really hard to put on a good race and I think our reputation shows that.

“... But I also think it’s a trend. There’s a trend of people wanting to run half marathons. ... It partly has to do with time. The commitment to train for a marathon is a little bit harder. You have to train and be gone from your family and gone from your responsibilities, job, whatever. When you do a half marathon, you still have to train, but it’s not as strenuous as it is to do the whole marathon.”

Siddoway was also impressed by the number of female runners in the field Saturday. According to Siddoway, female runners made up three-quarters of this year’s participants.

Finishing first among them was former Logan High great Megan Call with a time of 1 hour, 21 minutes, 2.89 seconds. Call took advantage of the nice weather, large turnout and speedy fellow runners to turn in a better-than-expected time.

“It was a surprise. I was shooting for a 1:22 today, and ran a 1:21:02, so I was really pleased with my time,” said Call, who is currently attending graduate school at the University of Utah. “There were some really good female runners from Salt Lake, so it was nice to see some familiar faces and be able to chase after them and stay with them for a while.

“There was a great crowd out today cheering you along, with nice weather.”

Teren Jameson, of Taylorsville, took the top spot for the men overall, winning the race with a time of 1:06:41.84. Jameson said he was counting on coming away with the fastest time Saturday, which is no surprise as he did so by nearly four minutes, crossing the finish line with the second-place runner nowhere in sight.

“I don’t know how much I won it by, but I was planning on winning,” Jameson said. “I just went out and ran what I wanted to try and run.

“It was nice. There was a little bit of a headwind is all, but otherwise perfect weather. A lot of downhill, which makes for a fast race.”

That second-place finisher just happened to be former USU cross country standout and 2007 WAC cross country Athlete of the Year Seth Wold. Wold finished the race with a time of 1:10:37.97. According to Wold, Saturday’s run was more about training and less about competition.

“Teren Jameson and I were running together,” Wold said. “I told him, ‘Hey, I’m doing a workout today, so I’m not gonna go any faster.’ He wanted to work out a little bit harder, so he took off. When we hit the bottom of the canyon, he had about a minute lead right there.”

Wold, now attending the University of Utah, had to end his collegiate running career when he turned professional. Wold runs professionally for the St. George running center and fastrunningblog.com.

Wold won the Ogden Marathon in May of this year, setting the course record with a time of 2:27:43.35. Wold explained that it has always been his dream to run professionally, but he found out his times in the shorter distances weren’t fast enough to make that happen. He would have to move to the longer races to achieve his goals, and so far it has paid off.

“In college, I wasn’t quite fast enough to make it to the next level,” Wold said. “I decided to move up in distance and the marathon was the way to do it.

“... I’m just trying to live the dream.”

Other top local finishers included John Allen of Logan. His 1:11:40 was good enough for fifth overall.

Paul Peterson, also of Logan, came in right behind Allen with a 1:12:14.77. He was followed by Cody Draper, also of Logan. Draper finished eighth with a time of 1:15:56.49.

Preston’s Nate Burnett finished 11th overall, turning in a time of 1:18:51.82.

Not only was Saturday’s pleasant weather good for the runners, but the overcast skies were also a huge relief for Siddoway as dehydration was less likely in such conditions.

“It couldn’t have been a more perfect day,” Siddoway said. “The tailwinds coming out of the canyon were good. Talking to our elite runners, they said it kept fluctuating from a headwind to a tailwind. It does that.

“The overcast skies couldn’t have been better, especially for such a big race, when we were scrambling to the last minute to be ready. But we were ready. It does help me to not be so worried about people dehydrating.”

Cache Sun & Snow will now get ready for their biggest race of the year on Sept. 20 when runners will converge again in Cache Valley for the Top of Utah Marathon.