Trying to keep up with you

Spent the day traveling to St George and in meeting.  Unfortunelty no time for a run.

Still in St George.  Early morning run from the Holiday Inn to the airport, down through the historic district, out to and around the the Temple, and back to the hotel.  I didn't have my garmin with me but given the time I'm guessing around 7.5 miles.  One of the most scenic routes I run.  Always run it when in St George.

Spent the rest of the day on the golf course with clients.  I really do enjoy a round of golf and manage to shoot 86, which for me that is great.  However, I find myself daydreaming of running through the golf early in the morning.  What can I say, I'm yet to meet someone that gets a runner's high from playing golf.

Still in St. George.  Same route as yesterday.  Later that day we (my wife and I) went over to Zion's Park.  Tried a hike that would be within my wife's range and one that we hadn't done before.  We end up doing Hidden Canyon.  Very rewarding hike, absolutely gorgeous and a perfect day to boot.  After some pizza at my favorite spot down there we headed back to Salt Lake.

Was planning to get my long run in today...

Before I could head out the door my wife managed to make me promise to work on the garden prior to leaving.  She knows all to well that I am usually spent after my long run.  By the time I got everything done it was time for the traditional family Sunday lunch at 4:00 pm, which was followed by visitors.  I felt like I was cheated out of my run.  That being said, I'd rather keep a happy balance at home than try to shove my long runs in without any consideration for the family.

Since the long run didn't happen yesterday I had to get it in today.  Thank goodness no one cares how long my lunches are.  I headed up City Creek Canyon from my gym (Planet Fitness on 3rd South and Main).  Went all the way to the top, end of the road.  I had to run through snow the last 1/4 mile but it was worth.  Towards the end of the run I could feel the fatigue settle in.  There are some serious inclines towards the end, specially the last 1.5 miles.  Its fun to past the cyclist up the steep hills.  I kept the pace conservative but the run still managed to kick my rear.

I categorized the 6.2 miles as "easy" miles because of the pace but I'm still feeling the effects from yesterdays 15 mile hill run.  The pace was 8:06 but I felt like I was running on an empty tank the whole way.  I'll take it easy tomorrow and hopefuly be fully recovered by Thursday.

Back up City Creek Canyon.  Started very slow but by the time I got to the turn around point I was in a nice rythm.  Legs feeling much better at the end of the run.  Good solid run.

Ran out to Liberty Park and did 4 outside loops(1.9 miles per loop) and back to the gym. Perfect weather. I'm not used to running out the grass trail on the outer edge of the park. It took some getting used to. You definetly run slower on the grass trail but it sure is easier on the knees. After the stress fracture last year I made a commitment to stay off the cement roads and side walks. After the first loop I managed to get into a nice relaxed rythm. Ended the run with alot of gas still in the tank.

Ran at an average pace of 7:55 per mile.  Nothing special just slow and flat run. Plan on doing maybe a short run tomorrow (Mother's Day) and then a long run on Monday afternoon.

Spend yesterday baking breads for the widows that live on my block. I'm a bit of a bread nut. I grow my own wild yeast and spend most of my free time on weekends running, baking, and garden work. For Mother's Day I made a carmelized onion and herb Ciabatta (Italian for Slipper because of it's shape) and a Rosemary Garlic Potato Bread. Six loafs in total. Being a three stage process I started Friday with the end product out of the oven on Sunday. I made some sour dough bread for the family. I try to stick to the original recipe from the place of origen the best I can, which often requires ordering on line the ingredients not readily available in your local supermarket and I grow all my own herbs. No machines, all is done by hand to secure the perfect tecture, elasticity and moisture. The end result is well worth the time. Enough about baking, although I could write about it for hours.

Today was my long.  For some reason Mondays work for my longs.  Total time: 2:26.  Uneventful.  Part of the run (about 3.2 miles) was done on the road and I had the worst luck when it came to lights.  I had to stop at nearly every light.  It drove me nuts.  Ended the run strong.  Much better long than my last 18 miler, which was a disaster.  Tried to keep it slow the whole way as per Josse's and Sasha'a advice.  Average pace 7:58 per mile.  Had a few more miles in me at the end.  Good solid run all around.

Pleasant 7 miler up in the hills.  Pushed a little to hard to consider it as a recovery run so tomorrow will be my recovery run.

Run up City Creek.  Went up slow and then ran tempo pace down.  Stayed with a slower running partner on the way up to force myself to stay slow, which worked perfectly.  I the way down a just tried to reel other runners in.  Averaged a 6:30 pace downhill.  Tempo but not Threshold. Not sure what my uphill pace was but it was slow.

I usually don't track my splits but since I was wearing my garmin today I thought I'd give it a try.  I've actually tried to track my splits several times in the past but always seem to hit the wrong button at some point and mess it all up.

Split Distance	Time	Pace
2.35 miles	19:04.25	8:07
1.7 miles	13:00.08	7:38
1.7 miles	13:24.08	7:53
1.7 miles	12:32.04	7:22
2.35 miles	18:16.54	7:46
Total 9.80	1:16:16	7:47

Today was my 10 miler (a little short). Ran from the gym out to Liberty Park and did loops on the outer edge trail.  In the past I was calculating that the loop was 1.9 miles and thinking I was running way too fast for the effort.  Now that I have a better measurement (1.7 miles) my times fall in line with the effort. 

Relatively hard push up City Creek Canyon.  Ran with Jeff who just did the Ogden Half (1:34) and he still managed to keep a hard pace. 

I'm planning on runnig the Telford Half on Memorial Day in Kaysville.  Should be a flat run.  Hoping for a sub 1:40.  We'll see.

Listed as easy only because of the pace.  It was a tough 10 miler.  It may have been because I was fatigued from yesterday's run, or the heat and humidity, or both.  I ended the run with an extremely dry mouth.  Not a good sign.  Should have hydrated better.  Tomorrow will be a recovery jog.  I don't think I'll be pushing myself much from here till Monday.  Instead of the Telford Half I'll be doing the Striders Memorial Day Half in Syracuse.  Looking foward to it.

Easy eight miler.  Kept the pace right under a 8:00 min mile. Smooth and relaxed.  I'll do one more short run on Saturday and then I should be prime for the race on Monday. 

Easy treadmill run to loosen up the legs.  Ready for the half-marathon.

Very fun race.  I didn't hit the time I wanted, a sub 1:40, but this was the first race in a long time and I forgot how fun they are.

Splits:

1 & 2	15:40	15:40
3	7:52	23:33
4	8:42	32:15
5	7:34	39:49
6	7:55	47:45
7	7:31	55:16
8	7:19	1:02:35
9	7:32	1:10:07
10	7:43	1:17:50
11	7:41	1:25:32
12	7:43	1:33:15
13	7:28	1:40:44
13.1	0:52	1:41:36

I spend last night listening to the rain and thinking how cold and wet it was going to be.  I left the house at 5:50 am thinking I had plenty of time to get to the park where the race was held, pick up my number and chip, and get to the starting line.  I get out to Syracuse, and not knowing the area at all, I couldn't find the right park.  After going in circles for 20 minutes I find the park, run to the starting line and get ready to race.  I needed to go to the port-a-poty but knew I miss the start if I did.  It was already raining so everyone was soaked by the time the race started. 

Mile 4 was the first port-a-poty.  I had no choice but to stop and I lost anywhere from 45 to 55 seconds.  Did not panick and just got back into a rythm.  At the turn around point at about mile 6.9 it really started to pour down with some good wind.  I had already dumped my long sleeve jersey and was running in a short-sleeve. My feet where soaked and it felt like I was running with a couple of bricks on my feet.  It got cold running against the wind in the rain but by mile 10 the rain turn into a light drizzle and the wind died down.

By mile 12 I realize I still have plenty in the tank and I try to make the last mile the fastest.  Not quite the fastest but second fastest.  When I crossed the finish line I felt good.  Not as spent as I thought I would be.  I jogged a mile or so right after to keep my muscles loose.  All in all a fun race and well organized.  The suprise was that I actually placed second in my age group (40 - 49).  That, of course, can only happen in a small local race.

Race results are not oficial yet.  I'm waiting for them to be posted on www.stridersrunning.com.

Recovery run up City Creek Canyon.  Some soreness in my quads but quickly went away once I started running.  I'll keep it rather light this week and then start gearing up for Des News next week.

treadmill miles. I managed to keep my heart rate fairly low and the exertion level was mid to low but I'm still feeling some muscle fatigue from the race on Monday. 

Rest day.  I decided not to run today and let my muscles fully recover from monday's race.  I want to start next week (Sunday) with a quality long run.  I think the recovery is necessary before I start the next training cycle.

I'll push some weights around today and probably swim a mile or two after work.

8:00 mile pace.  Seemed easy.  Heart rate stayed in upper zone 2.  I feel almost completely recovered from Monday race and I'm looking forward to Sunday's long run.

Nice early morning run.  Managed to get into a good rythm after I got the kinks out (0.5 miles).  Maintained about a 8:00 pace for 0.5 miles and then would increase the pace for 0.5 miles.  Fastest pace was a 7:08 for a 0.5 mile.  I'm feeling pretty close to fully recovered from the race on Monday.

Lifted weights afterward.  Kept the reps around 10 to 12.  Before I started doing triathlons and running on a regular basis I would only lift weights, which created more bulk than I care for.  So now I'm careful not to add any unnecessary muscle mass, since it'll only slow me down.  Just enough weight to tone the muscles.