Paul, Dan and myself decided to put ourselves through pain for no reason other than to see how fast we could go. Sure it was to help train for the 5K and 10K coming up but, really, it hurts why do I do it? I do it for the PR, of course. Last night in preparation for today, I looked back at my old High School days of running (it was the only time in my life where I ran consistently...until the middle of last year). My 3200m PR was set as a sophomore in a whopping time of 11:32. So, my goal today was to beat that time by running 2x's 5:45 miles.
We (Dan and myself) started from work and ran an easy 2.37 miles to meet Paul at the start of a quiet road. After moaning and whining and prolonging the agony, I shut up and ran. Wow, it hurt. I love to run, I hate to race. All I want to do is quit. I hit the first mile in 5:32 and was all alone (Paul way ahead, Dan chomping at my heels). That second mile was murder. I stopped when my Garmin beeped its second mile.(5:53 for mile #2). Giving me a total time of 11:25. Fine, it was worth it to PR. My heart rate climbed to 186 with an average of 184 for the second mile. My max HR is in the low 192's so I must have let my head win the battle of the pain. I know that with some workouts geared towards pushing back that VO2 max threshold, I can do much better. I need someone to pull me along that second mile as well.
We ran back at a very easy pace for a total of 7.5 miles
Airport Loop with Dan. Felt Ok today, not too worn out from yesterday. We did 6x20 sec striders (~5:00 mile pace) in the middle of the run. We got smoked by the 7:00 guy during the icy 5th and 6th miles but caught him by the end of the run.
Ran a loop into Millville today with Paul. We took it easy and I enjoyed the run. It was still pretty cold this morning (5 degrees) but it warmed to about 20 by the end of the run. 50 miles this week. I plan on 50 again next week.
Ran the YESCO- End of Paved River Trail Run with Dan today. Wanted to get in some MP miles to see how they felt. I decided to do the last half at MP to simulate being tired. My goal was to run 7:00 miles out and 6:30-6:40 back. I had the following splits:
Mile 1: 6:57 HR: 152
Mile 2: 6:55 HR: 165
Mile 3: 7:00 HR: 164
Mile 4: 7:02 HR: 164
Mile 5: 7:08 HR: 165
Mile 6: 6:38 HR: 171
Mile 7: 6:37 HR: 172
Mile 8: 6:34 HR: 171
Mile 9: 6:34 HR: 172
Mile 10: 6:16 HR: 173
It was such a great day to run. Long sleeve shirt, shorts, no gloves, no hat. I couldn't resist a fast finish.
I wanted to go long today to get my mileage in so that I can take it easy this weekend for the race. I ran with Dan, Paul, and Jon for varying sections of the run. It was an easy pace. I am feeling pretty wiped out right now. I will go easier on myself the rest of the week.
Ran Modified Gossner 6 today. My legs felt really tired and slow. We did 8x20 second striders (12-13 mph according to my Garmin 305) during the run in prep for the race Saturday. Another beautiful day in Cache Valley.
Played over an hour of Racquetball after a year drought. I sure missed it. My touch was off, but it all came back quickly. I call it equal in effort to 3 easy miles.
I ran 3.15 as well with 3x20 sec striders during the run. I felt better today than yesterday. We will see about tomorrow.
Striders 5K (3.1 Miles) 00:18:53, Place overall: 18, Place in age division: 6
Slow miles
Fast miles
Total Distance
7.45
3.10
10.55
I ran Striders 5K race this morning in Ogden. I liked the course, hated my time. It was all hills. I heard some people say that it separated the men from the boys. Well, those hills turned me into a little boy whimpering and whining all the way home.
The Race started with a beautiful overcast sky and very plesant temperatures for February. I felt fine for the first 400m until the adrenelin wore off. Then I remembered why I was a "casual runner" for so many years with no racing. Racing Hurts! I started out right where I wanted to be for the first 1/2 mile. Then there was an incline that seemed to get steeper with every step. There was a large pack in-front of me by 20 yards but I decided not to chase. I shouldv'e because they stayed the same distance in front of me for quite a while. I ended up by myself, which means I slowed down gradually without noticing. I hit the first mile (~100 foot gain) in 6:08. Too slow... I think I sort gave up mentally at that point and refused to push harder. My HR was around 184 with my pace between 7:00 and 8:00 miles going up the first hill. I just couldn't get the gas to speed up. We had a small break at 1.5 miles with a 7% grade downhill. My breathing was so anaerobic that it didn't help. My HR stayed at 184 and my pace dropped to 5:00 mile for the hill. The next up-hill was only 4% but it hurt. My HR climbed to 187 and I couldn't wait for it to end. Part way up the hill, I hit mile 2 in 6:22 (12:30). WAY-WAY to slow but what can you do?? Now for the downhill. It was a 10% grade that forced me to flail my arms and try and not face-dive into the asphalt at a 4:20 mile pace. I did finally catch someone at that point and pass him. He was my only position change for 2 miles. I dug as deep as I could from then on and pushed thru the 3-mile mark (5:45) and finished in 18:54 according to my watch.
I really wanted to post a good time today so I am dissapointed in that, but I know that I did about as good as I can hope for after a winter of base mileage and little Lactic Threshold and VO2MAX miles. I think I need more hill workouts too to get stronger.
I do feel good about the effort. After some thought and looking at Sasha's predictor I do feel better about the race. I found out many of my weaknesses during this race and I plan on addressing many of them this summer. I look forward to killing myself in the 10K.
I ran a mile warmup and ran the course backwards after for a cooldown.
PM Ran 3.45 miles in the late afternoon because I was bored and my legs had tightened up. Felt good.
I decided to start running in the mornings now as that fits better into my schedule. Of course, the day I do it, the roads are all covered in ice. It rained all day yesterday and froze overnight. I had a VERY hard time keeping my footing and pushing off. That said, I do enjoy running first thing and getting it done. That way it isn't overlooked if something comes up during the day.
I was feeling fine from the Race on Sat so I decided to do a tempo workout. I ran 2 miles as a warmup (7:14, 7:06) and then set out to do 5 6:30 miles. I did fine considering the conditions of the road. (6:32, 6:30, 6:31, 6:30, 6:34) I then finished out the loop with some easy miles around 7:30 pace. I ran a new loop out to Young Ward to the River Trail and home. Flat but quiet.
New run into Providence up Canyon Road to Sego Lilly and back. Easy Pace. Felt a little sore at first but loosened up fine. Did 4x20 second striders during the run on sections of downhill. Still pretty chilly outside at 6:00. (27 degrees). I think I will run in Providence more as the hills are excellent to train on.
Nice easy day today. Ran to the Top of Center Street in Providence and back. That is one nasty hill. 500 foot climb over 3.5 miles. 400 of the 500 in 1 mile stretch (13% grade ave). I took it pretty slow during the steep section. Did 6x20 second striders during last half of run. I am feeling refreshed and ready for a big day tomorrow.
Today was a race against the snow...I lost. It caught me about halfway thru the run. It made it tough to see, but other than that it was fine. It wasn't heavy enough to make the road slick.
I started with 2 miles as warmup (7:23, 7:18) then did 3x4min at Critical Velocity (CV) pace (pace that you can hold for 40 mins -Mine is around 5:55 mile pace) with 3 min rest (8:20mi) in-between each rep. The first two were on a pretty flat course but the third had about a 2% incline over the last 2 mins. My ave pace over the 4 min fartleks were 5:56, 5:55, and 6:05. They were hard and I was sure glad that I was done.
I ran a slow mile up to the millville bench to recover and then pushed the pace the rest of the way towards home. I decided I wasn't done after-all and decided to do one more 4-min CV in Providence. It was on a road that had a net loss of ~2% so it was pretty easy. (5:53mi pace). After that, I cruised home at around 7:00 pace.
10.4 miles total - House to Providence to Millville to Bench to Canyon Road to Providence to House.
Ran with Paul and Dan today in some sweet weather. I felt average and ran average. Felt good to get a longer run in to finish a good week of training. I felt pretty sore and tired once I hit 10 miles into the run. I need to keep pushing that point back further and further in preparation for the marathon.
Total Time: 1:36:08 (7:02 ave)
Ave Hr: 161
55.25 miles for the week. 55 scheduled for next week with the 10K on Saturday.
Last night we had a little scare as my pregnant wife went into labor. She is not due for another 6 weeks so we didn't want another premature baby (our first was 5 weeks early). Long story short, we were able to stop the contractions and not have the baby yet. Needless to say, we didn't sleep much as we spent the night in the hospital. Everything is fine now and I was able to get out for a run this afternoon.
I ran the Young Ward Loop. 2 mile warmup (6:55, 6:50 paces) then a 5 mile Tinman tempo at a goal pace of 6:30 for 5 miles. I hit 6:29, 6:28, 6:28, 6:28, and 6:27. I still felt ok so I kept up a comfortable pace for the last 3 miles (6:35, snowy/slushy mile on the paved river trail in 7:21, and a 6:41 last mile. The .15 was a cooldown at 7:15 pace. Overall, I felt really well considering the 3 hours sleep and stress level.
I woke up to lots of snow today so I decided to avoid the cars and truck splashing slush and I ran on the River Trail and on Logan River Golf Course. The Golf Course had enough snow that it buried my feet and made running difficult. The river trail was in better shape but covered with snow. Footing was tricky so I went REALLY slow. It felt good just to get out at least.
Striders 10K (6.2 Miles) 00:38:59, Place overall: 17, Place in age division: 7
Slow miles
Fast miles
Total Distance
5.55
6.20
11.75
Stiders 10K Race today. I had a plan for the hills, and I did pretty well sticking to the plan and I think it payed off (my plan was to not die on them). I started out at a comfortable pace for the first mile. (That pace is only comfortable for about a mile anyway) My garmin beeped well before the first mile marker, but those are my only splits so I will share those. Mile 1 in 6:11 and I was right on track. The hill at mile 1 was a bummer and I struggled to change gears to come back down it. I enjoyed the flat and slightly downhill section right before the second climb. I was able to latch on to someone and work together up the next (monster) hill. It got pretty ugly for me up that climb. 6:17 second mile and 7:09 third mile. I had a hard time speeding up on that flat section at the top of the climb. It took a couple of blocks of steady downhill to finally go. 5:45 and 5:47 mile splits for miles 4 and 5. Scott passed me during those fast miles and I didn't have the guts to push harder and stay with him. The last uphill was tougher than I thought. I feel like I went strong up it, but my mile split was a dissapointing 6:12. I was able to close the gap to a couple of runners that got away during the downhill, but they pulled away again on the last downhill. Grrrr. I was too tired to care enough to kick more as we ran another lap around the building.
I measured 6.28 miles for the course so that last .2 (.28 measured) time was 1:35. My finish time was 38:59 (6:16 mi). 17th overall and 7th in my age group. I am pleased with the result and I even ran the last 5K pretty close to a PR time. My HR was almost the exact same as it was during the 5K (between 180 and 187 with an average of 181)
Ran an easy 2 to warmup and 3.55 to cool down. 56 miles for the week. Next week I will bump it up to 60 and hold for a couple of weeks.
My foot hurt all day yesterday and into this morning, so I decided to go easy today and hopefully go harder tomorrow. I think I made the right decision as the roads were all icy and I had a hard time ice-skating faster than 7:30 pace anyway. Other than the foot, I felt pretty good. My HR was a tad high on the run today as I think I needed the recovery day from the race on Saturday. My right foot hurts on the bottom of the right side (in the middle). Yeah, there. I think that it got bruised somehow (camber of the Road??). It started to feel better as I ran on the opposite side of the road today.
I ran a new run through Providence and River Heights. Some hills, but nothing terrible. I like that run as a recovery run.
I waited until the snow stopped and the roads were clear to do my run today. I had a 6 mile tinman tempo during a 11 mile run scheduled today so I decided to run the trusty Young Ward Loop. I decided to run the 6 miles at 6:25-6:30 pace. I felt fine after the 6 miles at Tinman Tempo pace so I decided to keep a sub 7 pace all the way home. It is funny how easy 6:45 pace is after running 6:30's. I dipped to 6:15 pace during the tempos accidently and it felt like I went anaerobic doing so, so I think that is my threshold pace(6:15-6:20).
It was way too cold to run this morning but it was too late, I had already committed. It was -6 degrees F. I had to keep wiping the frost off my eye lashes so I could see. I ran the Providence Canyon Road run nice and easy. I was feeling a bit tired still from yesterday's workout only 13 hours earlier. My foot is still hurting too. It hurts every step for the first 2 miles then the pain goes away until the next day. Weird.
