What lies within

Easy run with Reed and Scott. 35 degrees! Very pleasant.

Met Reed at 7am for a long run. We from his house, up AF canyon to the fork 10 miles. The pace was leisurely but I felt pretty beat up at the top. (7:40 avg). 

I wasn't sure how hard to hit it on the way down with a lot of speed this week already so I decided to go at MP effort and see what happened.

First mile was slightly down hill (5:45), I was feeling pretty good so as it got steeper I tried to keep the effort the same, 2-5 (5:26, 5:23, 5:26, 5:27) are pretty steep (about 200 ft/mile). It flattened a bit out of the canyon 6-8 (5:37, 5:40, 5:40). Last two are gently down hill again 9-10 (5:36, 5:27). 

The last two were tough. 5:33 avg. Very aided but I'm happy with the workout. 

1.5 mile cool down. 

AM: Met Reed and Scott for 10 around Alpine. Legs were a bit tired but overall it was a very pleasant run.

PM: 5 on the TM at the gym. 1.5% grade.  Weights.

Met Scott. Miles flew by with good conversation and pleasant weather. 

10 mile AT tempo run this morning.

3m warm up 1m cooldown. Ran on a 2.5 mile loop near my house that is pretty flat (46 ft elevation change over 1.25 miles). Had a steady headwind for the uphill portion, not strong but enough to make that section harder.

Splits: (5:42, 5:50, 5:54, 5:45, 5:56, 5:53, 5:49, 5:57, 5:54, 5:35) 5:48 avg

Splits are fairly inconsistent. Mostly because of the change in wind and incline/decline. Mostly even effort throughout. 

PM: 5 easy on the TM. Weights 

Met Scott, Reed and .... Brandon and Dan! In Orem for a pleasant juant up Provo canyon. Legs were tired. IT band flared up at the very end. Lots of stretching and rolling afterwards.

10 easy with Dan and Scott on the Jordan River trail. Good times.

Met Scott, Dan, Reed, Fritz and Kevin in AF. 30mph winds convinced us to try Riverton instead. The workout plan was a 10/10. 

First 10 were out and back to the south. There was a steady wind blowing to the south. Averaged 7:00 on the first leg. Felt good but a little aggressive.

Scott and Fritz decided on a very reasonable 6 min pace for the next 5 into the wind. I guess my Garmin was broken because it said the next 1/2 mile was around 5:35 pace. Scott and Fritz had gapped me by about 15 yards and I had a decision to make. Stick with 6s and fight the wind solo or try and hang (and draft). Kevin made the decision for me as he surged ahead and I followed. 

I took the lead once or twice to try and take my turn but it never lasted long. I was mostly trying to hang on for dear life. By the end of this leg I was pretty thrashed. We took a brief breather and then headed back.

Splits: (5:37,5:47,5:39,5:38,5:40) 

I wasn't in any condition to run 5:20s so I held back a little. The 3rd mile back was tough, I lost sight of the group and wallowed a little in self pity. With about 1.5 to go I could tell they had backed off and were coming back to me. I sped up a bit to catch them thinking I'd jog the rest of the way in with them. The closer I got, the faster they went :) I finally caught up and we cruised in at a brisk pace. 

Splits: (5:32,5:42,5:54,5:43,5:20) 

Fun workout. Glad to get it in despite the wind. Hope to have more group runs like this. Great group and a good push.

Slept in and missed the morning crew. Took off around 8am. Started off very slowly (9:30s) and worked my way up to 7:30s by mile 3. 35 degrees and quite pleasant. Felt good after I warmed up. Big loop through Alpine, Highland and AF.

http://connect.garmin.com/activity/283228852

Met Scott at Lone Peak track for some speed fun. 3m warm up. 

6x800. First 3 had a 200m rest (about 1 min) between them. I decided to increase the rest to 400m and increase the intensity for the last 3. 

 Splits: 2:32, 2:30. 2:29, 2:23, 2:23, 2:22

I felt surprisingly good. I ran with Scott for the first 3 and then he stuck with the 200m rest and we separated. This should be a good tune up for Saturday's 10k.

PM: 4m very easy. Weights.

PM2: 2m with the boys around the park with the dog. 

Met a good group today for the early morning shift. Scott, Brandon, Dan, Rob and Toni for a leisurely stroll on the Murdock canal trail. Hip was a little sore so I took it easy. Great group and great temps make for good running.

Easy miles @ 5:30am with Scott and Toni. Hip is still a little sore but feeling pretty good.

AM: 3 easy miles with a few strides. Finished off down the hill with a 800m pickup in 2:28. Legs feel much better than yesterday.

PM: Pre-race freeze down and 1 hour plyometric workout. Pinecreek canyon with Ty and Rick in full dry suites. Big fun. Probably not the best pre-race activity.

More pics/videos 

https://docs.google.com/folder/d/0B5rlsaNI0731elZCeXI2OEZvSEU/edit?pli=1 

At 6:30 am I ate my standard 1/2 cup of instant oatmeal. I was still feeling the full margarita I shouldn't have eaten last night. Hip was a little sore but legs generally felt good. Headed up to Ivins, got in line to get my number and hopped the 2nd to last bus to the starting line.

1 mile easy warm up on the dirt and then another 1/2 or so with strides on the hill near the starting line. I ran in to Karl and Caleb and chatted a bit. I saw Brad Osguthorpe with about 2 minutes before the start which officially put 1st place out of reach.

1st mile was very steep. Ran comfortable. Brad went out fast (probably 4:30). Before the mile marker Logan Fielding passed me and I ran behind him for a while. 

2nd mile had some uphill and I just ran behind Logan and let him set the pace. 3rd was gentle down, 4 was 1/2 down 1/2 up (about 60ft). I felt strong through 4. I passed Logan at 3.2 down the last hill. Brad was about 75 meters ahead at 3.5. 5 and 6 were tough, lots of hills which shut me down pretty hard and I fell of pace. I lost sight of Brad quickly during the hills. I recovered a bit by the last 1/2 mile and finished strong (2:28).

Splits: (4:55, 5:17, 5:03, 5:17, 5:34, 5:34,0:49) 

I had an outside hope for sub 32 but I'm pleased with the race. Went on a 2 mile cool down with Karl and then another 6 with Ty. All in all a great trip. Pinecreek was probably working against me a bit, hard to tell how much...but it was awesome. Who knows, maybe those 29 seconds were left in Zion somewhere? 

Good group this morning. Scott, Toni, Chad, Reed, Dan and Spencer...although Dan didn't make it far (darn SI). 

Felt a little fatigued but otherwise good. No tweaks! 

Lunch: 6 miles easy on the Sandy dry creek trail. Weights. 

Easy run with Scott and Toni. Felt sore/heavy. No double today for me.

Met Scott, Reed and Toni at the Lone Peak track at 5am. I still think it's crazy that 4 nutters will meet at the track for a pain session at 5am. What a cool group!

3m warm up, 2m cool down. I was still feeling a little tired but much better than yesterday. I couldn't find any excuses not to do my prescribed workout (and I was searching)! 40 degrees and a slight north breeze made for near-ideal conditions. 

6x1600 w/ 400m jog (about 2:30).

(5:11, 5:10, 5:09, 5:09, 5:10, 5:05)

Scott changed his mind about what he wanted to do after the first lap of the first interval and decided to join me. So grateful! The workout wouldn't have been what it was without him. The first one was a tough wake-up call. The next 3 were smooth and felt really good. #5 was harder. Scott's emergency break to the porta-potty afforded me a 4 minute recovery after 5 so #6 felt the easiest.

I'm happy with the workout. I've wanted to hit this one for a while now and the stars finally aligned. I didn't dip into the reserves and even had a little left in the tank.

Reed looked great out there too, he's really coming along. Scott, as always, was tough as nails...minus the stomach issues.  

PM: 7 miles easy on the Sandy dry creek trail. Felt surprisingly good.

Easy miles on the tread at the gym. It has been a while since I've done a treadmill run and I hope to avoid it in the future. Not fun. Horizontal snow and 30 mph winds at home. 

Missed the early crew. 

Easy run with Scott, Dan, Reed and Toni on the Jordan River trail. Very pleasant. Legs felt a little heavy. 

5x100m strides 

Up to Sugar House Park with Scott to meet Fritz, Kevin, Jake, Rob, Adam and John Kotter. 

11.3 mile warm up (warm up?) around Highland. Steady pace. Fun stuff. (6:50)

Tempo portion was around Sugar House Park loop. I forgot my watch (grr) so was running blind. After the first mile I swear I heard Kevin say it was 5:42. I knew I was in trouble if that was the case. The loop was pretty hilly and it wasn't being nice to me. I finished the first loop (about 1.4 miles) with Scott and Kevin and then slowly watched them pull away. I ran 3 more digressive loops and called it quits. I circled back and jogged around till everyone finished. 

We did 1 more loop for a cool down.

Later on Scott told me the first mile was 5:22! Made me feel a little better but still a disappointing workout.

Up all night with sick kids. Slept in and ran at lunch time. I was going to do 15 but my left calf felt a little tight at 7 so I headed back early. 

Threw in 6x160 meter strides at the end. Felt good. (6:59 avg)

Met Scott, Toni and Dan for a run on the Jordan River trail. Plan was to do a long tempo at MP (7-8 miles).

3m warm up. 3m cooldown.

5m tempo. I only made it 4.5 at 5:42 pace. Effort was way harder than it should have been. The same thing happend on Saturday. I'm having trouble sleeping. I think I'm starting to exhibit some signs of early overtraining. Thankfully I don't have any injuries or tweaks...just fatigue.

I'm going to back off the rest of this week and hopefully pick up the pieces next week and try and salvage what I can of SLC on the 20th.  

Met Scott and Reed for an easy run on the Murdock trail. It was painful to turn back half way out...

2 miles with the dog. No watch but it was very slow.

Very slow on the murdock trail with the dog. Feeling pretty good.

Perfect Saturday morning. Great group, good workout, perfect weather. I couldn't really ask for more. To name a few: Scott, Toni, Brandon, Reed, Dave, Melody, Chris... and more!

2 out n' backs. One on the Murdock trail to the north. One up Provo canyon.

First leg was pretty easy pace, I think we averaged 7s for the first 10. The next 2 were 6:45 and 6:30. Then Scott and I upped the pace for the next 3 ( 6:13, 6:05, 6:12 ), these were into the wind and slightly uphill so the effort was pretty close to my MP so I'll call them MP miles. 

We waited for a minute or the so at the top to regroup with Brandon and Reed and then started down. Scott said 5:20s. I thought he was joking. He wasn't. Next 3 (5:19, 5:19, 5:18). I started to feel it after 3 so I backed off for a 1/4 mile. Next two were 5:50, 5:45. 

It was a good workout. Legs were pretty fresh after 3 days off but I still wasn't feeling 100%. I think I'm out of the hole, just need to be careful the next 2 weeks and avoid digging a new hole.

1.25 miles of grass loops slow for  a cooldown. 

Brandon and Reed looked super strong today. Scott was a monster, as usual. Dan ran 20 miles!