I am one with the levee and the levee with me

I squeezed in a short run before we headed back to Utah, hoping to add a few more when we were home. Miki got sick just about the moment we got home, so I spent the rest of the evening taking care of her. I'm crossing my fingers that I don't get it, but I think I'm probably already a goner.

Miki stayed home from work today to rest, so I did an easy 9 miles up into Hobble Creek Canyon. Running on the soft trails in Kennewick really paid off (despite the crummy weather) and my feet are feeling as strong as ever, knock on wood.

Overall time was 62:23 - the pace was 6:50 - 6:55 pace most of the way, so the run may have been slightly more than 9.

I ran into Sasha today, who wa kind enough to run 6x1000 with me, despite being 13 miles into an already eventful run. It helped a ton to have him run with me, I finally kept pace through the whole workout. Plus he helped me average a faster pace than ever. The trail was pretty icy in places, but not horrible. The slower reps were slightly uphill, and the faster ones on the downhill.

1 - 3:31 (apr. 30 seconds rest between reps)

2 - 3:24

3 - 3:33

4 - 3:23

5 - 3:32

6 - 3:23-3:24

So pretty consistent times - the last two were pretty painful. I'm pleased with the workout, but I still realize how far I have to go to hit my goal times.

Ran home from work today. We overslept this morning, so I didn't have a chance to run before work.

Ran 13 with Sasha and Ted. This is the first complete run I've done with them, and it was an excellent experience. We started slow (7:45 pace I think) and gradually went faster and faster, until the last 3 miles were about 6:10 pace or faster. Sasha said the last one was 5:45, but I dropped off a few seconds. That's a habit that I need to get out of - dropping off the pace when I'm tired. It wasn't that I couldn't do it, I just didn't feel like it. I did the same thing with the 6x1000 with Sasha, and I feel that this attitude is unacceptable.

I think we finished the run with a final time just under 7:00 pace. All in all, it was a very enjoyable run.

Lots of snow on the trail this morning, so I took it nice and easy in 7:20 pace. Classes are starting at 8 am this semester, so I have to adjust my training schedule a bit. Today I squeezed in 6 miles before class, was in class from 8 to 11, then ran 3 more. I don't think this is ideal training, but I have to do what I can. The second run has room from more miles, so I think I'll be able to increase to 70 or 80 without much difficulty.

6:30 am - 3x1mile with 1:00 rests on the indoor track. My legs have been a little tired, so I decreased the volume slightly. Lots of walkers and joggers on the inside lane which was a little irritating, but overall a good workout.

1 - 5:29

2 - 5:31

3 - 5:25

I nearly ran over a jogger on the last one, so it may have been a second or two faster. I plan on hitting about 55 miles this week, but I want a slight taper in intensity heading into Saturday's race. Total distance: 6 miles. I might do a steady run on Wednesday, but the rest of my miles will be recovery this week.

11 am - 3 miles easy down 800 S. and the river trail. Still lots of treacherous spots on the trail.

11 am - This was one of my favorite runs in a long time. I've never run in so much snow before, and it felt like I was running on clouds. I headed down the usual route to the river trail, there must have been about 6 inches of snow over most of it. At least before the overpass, where the rest of the trail had been plowed. Total time for 7 miles was 50:40 - 7:14.3 pace.

I had to drive my wife up to Lehi this morning for work, so I didn't get the chance to run this morning. Hopefully I'll finish the rest of it tonight.

6:30 am - 3 super easy miles before class (23:00, 7:40 pace)

11 am - My legs feel kinda tired from the last week or two (I think especially from that 13 miler with Ted and Sasha), so today and tomorrow are recovery days. I have a hard time making myself run slower than 7:00 pace, so I went out 3 miles as slow as I could stand it (7:13 pace) then made myself run back slower than I went out (7:26 pace). Total time was 44:01 (7:20 pace).

The adrenaline is already starting to flow in anticipation of Saturday's race. I feel that I'm easily in 9:00 shape, but it's been so long since I've done a serious race that the demons of doubt keep creeping in.

I have always had a hard time keeping myself under control the day before a race. Adrenaline is already pumping through me every time I think about it - and it consumes about 99% of my thoughts at the moment. It's funny, the night before my first high school race I just layed awake in utter fear of the next day. I'm not sure exactly what I was afraid of, but I didn't fall asleep until about 4 am.

So I've gotten a little better since then, but even the day of regionals my senior year in high school, I woke up with a sore jaw that I could barely open because I had been clenching it all night long. But considering I ran my pr 5k that day, a little nerves are probably okay.

In any case, I'm totally stoked for tomorrow's race. I did an easy 7 this morning (50:56 for 7:16.6 pace), and my legs feel terrific. They're still slightly fatigued from training, but I have a feeling it won't factor into the race tomorrow. I found a relatively dry stretch of trail and opened the throttle to around 3000m pace for 20 seconds or so, just to wake up the legs from their 7:30 pace slumber, and they feel peppy and ready to go.

9 am - 3 easy miles down Springville Main St. to wake up the legs.

BYU Indoor Invite 3000m - 9:12.93

Well, I went into the race with three goals: 1) don't get last, 2) break 9:00, and 3) at the very least, get a PR. Goal #2 wasn't quite there today, but it was a good race, a good opener for the season, and it makes me excited for what's to come.

It's a little depressing going to these races and not knowing anyone. High school track meets were always a blast because you can just goof around until your race, then goof around some more once your done. I couldn't help feeling a little awkward and out of place next to the other guys on the line. None of them knew me, but I knew most of them. I'm admittedly a huge track nerd, but I never thought of myself as a stalker before.

Anyway, during my warm-up I felt great. I got in about 2 miles 45 minutes before the gun with a few race-pace strides. I knew that I could hit the mile in 4:50 without much trouble, and if I could I felt I would be close to that 9:00 mark.

In any case, when the gun went off, the pack was quickly leaving me in the dust at my 4:50 pace, so I had to make a quick decision, whether or not to match pace. I've always had a difficult time coming from behind, so I grabbed on to the second pack that was forming and hung on. The first lap was 55 (5 laps to a mile), and the quarter was 68 or 69 (sorry Ted, you told me so).

It was at that point that I kind of spaced out. The only coherent thought I had from laps 2-7 was "Keep going!" All I could think of was not getting left behind, and I was surprised when I went through the mile in 4:44 (only two seconds slower than my time trial a few weeks ago!). I hit 4 laps-to-go in 5:00, and all I had to do to get my goal was run 5:00 pace for 4/5's of a mile. Of course, my brain didn't put that together till later, so I kept plodding ahead, not thinking about time, not thinking about anything except keeping my body moving.

In retrospect, I feel that I ran a good race, but my biggest mistake came at about lap 6. I had a Utah Valley guy 2 seconds up on me -- perfect position to grab on to him and let him pull me along. But I regretably let him go; he ended up at 9:06. He could have helped me through the difficult laps 6-8, where I lost a lot of ground on the 9:00 guy.

But, as it was, I hit the bell lap in 8:15-8:16 and knew I had my PR, and a 57 second last lap sealed the deal. While I would have liked to run a bit faster, I liked the race. I got out fast (maybe a little too fast), hung on as best as I could, and it ended with a decent time. As I build my miles and add in the speed stuff, I expect my times to drop dramatically. Today's race was a good springboard for the rest of the season.

Complete results can be found here:

http://www.byutrack.com/Various/Special/Meet_Info/2007-8/CougInInv/index.htm

6:45 am - 6 miles at steady pace (6:30/mile). A bit nippy this morning, but I'm surprisingly not too sore from the race. A good sign, I suppose. I headed down the usual river trail.

11 am - 3 miles easy (7:00 pace) down University Ave.

6:45 am - Stayed at the indoor track this morning to do some tempo work. I was squeezed on time this morning, so I couldn't get the full 4 miles in, but here's how it went:

2 miles - 11:04 (even 5:32 splits)

1:00 rest

1 mile - 5:26

It felt good and relaxed, and I really wanted to get that fourth mile in, but it just wasn't in the cards today. So 3 miles in 16:30 with a 1:00 rest between miles 2 and 3..... Looking back at previous seasons, I've never done a workout like that and had it feel that good.

11 am - 4 recovery miles (7:00 - 7:10 pace) with 6x100m strides at the end. The track was occupied, so I did them on the sidewalk outside. I'm estimating an average of 14.5 seconds apiece.

11 am - 7 miles down the river trail (48:03). It was snowing a little, but sunny.... kind of a weird combo. Spent most of the time thinking about the next phase of training. I'm rather partial to Daniels' training philosophies, but I'm not sure what kind of intervals to add in. Doing threshold work is easy to figure out, but where does VO2 max pace start?

Anyway, an easy run - a little faster than I wanted, but that's okay. I'll try to add some more in tonight.

8:30 pm - 3 easy miles down Springville Main.

6:45 am - I'm having trouble finding time for my second workout this week. It looks like I'll have to try to squeeze it in tomorrow since there wasn't time this morning. Ran down the river trail. Total time 40:34. It was super cold this morning -- it's not often that you feel the hairs in your nose freeze! But today was one of those days.

6:30 am - No classes this morning, so I had a little more time for the workout. Ran 4 x 5:00 with 4:30 rests from my place with the hope of simulating 5:00 mile repeats. I was running out of the Hobblecreek canyon, so I was shooting for slightly under 5:00 pace, since it's downhill. I have some error in measuring on gmap, since my start and end points aren't exact, but it looks like I fell a little short with total distance at 3.9 miles, making average pace somewhere around 5:07-5:10. The first two reps were at or just under 5:00 pace, but the last two are where I faltered, according to gmap. Which is surprising to me, the last two felt the fastest.

In any case, it was a good workout. I look forward to starting more speed stuff -- today just whet my appetite.

PM - Added 4 miles easy miles after work. Total time 30:04.

Did a 14 miler today... as much as I tried to tell myself it wouldn't be that far, it was. Fourteen is the most I've done in a day, and I have doubts that it will ever feel easy.

I headed up Hobble Creek Canyon, hoping that the trail would be plowed like the Provo River trail. I wasn't that lucky, of course, but I didn't feel like turning around. The snow was packed down for awhile, but the further up the canyon I got, the deeper it got. At one point I was up to my knees in snow, and figured it was time to head back. Snow running's the best!

I tried to pick it up slightly on the last few miles, but my legs were kinda tired by that point. I was surprised to see the last 2 miles were 12:34, I felt like I was barely under 7:00 pace.

9 easy miles in the snow - 1:07:02. I'm growing fond of the snow, and I will be sad when things warm up again. A nice run up Hobble Creek Canyon again, a little cold on the way back with the snow blowing in my face.

6:30 am - 4 mile tempo on the indoor track. I was feeling a little sluggish, most likely from all the snow running, but overall a decent run. My splits were all over the place, largely due to the sluggish feeling. Total time: 22:17 -- believe it or not, that turns out to be a PR for the distance.

Here are the mile splits:

5:37 (first 2 laps in 5:50 pace by mistake)

5:31 (11:08)

5:42 (16:50)

5:27 (22:17)

11 am - Ran 30:10 more that I'm calling 4 miles, although it was likely a little more. I'm trying to get in the habit of slowing down the in-between miles to rest the legs more.

Good job to everyone that ran Painter's! Very impressive races for the blog!

6:45 am - Only had time for 5 miles this morning, so I headed out at an easy pace down to the river trail. There's still a good amount of snow on the trail, so the pace was fairly slow (7:30 pace or so).

 11 am - Another easy 4 miles (29:14). Headed up Provo Canyon Rd. this time. It was sunny towards the canyon, but there's this cloud hanging around BYU. Rather ironic, if you ask me.
 

7 am - I really need to get more sleep! All the 5 hour nights are getting to me, and getting out for my runs today was difficult, to say the least. So 3.2 easy miles this morning; very cold outside, 9 degrees or so, I think?

11 am - Got in another 5.1 on the river trail that is beginning to dry up a little. I only fell asleep once in class, so that wasn't too bad. Average pace for this run was right about 7:00.

I wanted to get a mile repeats workout today, but my wife was sick this morning and I couldn't make it to the indoor track. So 7 easy miles to start the day with. I headed up towards Hobble Creek, but didn't make it into the canyon. Lots of snow and ice on the ground. I should be able to get that workout in tomorrow.

Total time - 49:22

Well, I finally found out what the "short track" at the BYU facility is. I got there for a workout and half the track was closed off by giant garage doors. I went and asked the janitors if they could open it up, but they said it is always closed on Saturday's.... that doesn't make much sense to me since the only thing going on in the other end was a karate practice, but the bottom line is that they wouldn't open it for me. Bleh.

So the short track really exists and really is 7 1/7 laps per mile. I was a little upset about it and almost left, but finally decided to stick it out and run my workout. I'm glad I stuck it out, cause the workout went better than expected.

I had 4x1mile planned today at 5:00 pace, but I just did 7 laps per rep to make it easier to figure. So 5:00 pace came to 4:54 for 7 laps.

The first two were kinda tough -- I was having trouble with the frequent turns, and felt like it was wearing me out.

Rep 1 - 4:58 (5:04 pace)

5:00 rest

Rep 2 - 4:56 (5:02 pace)

5:00 rest

Since I was feeling a little tight, I expected to start the bonking process on rep 3, but Sean Sundwall's post yesterday about relaxing came to mind (on Sasha's cruise control thread -- if you haven't read it, you should), and I tried to relaxing myself a little more. My stride got a little longer and my limbs felt looser, and I felt awesome. I started the 4th rep expecting it to kill, but each lap just felt easier and easier.

Rep 3 - 4:52 (4:58 pace)

6:00 rest (had to wait for high school runners)

Rep 4 - 4:48 (4:54 pace)

I was shocked that I still felt really good after the fourth, and I probably should have done at least one more, but there was a high school group doing an 800m time trial, so I stuck to the original game plan and headed out on the rest of my run.

The other 9 miles were done in 60:02 (6:40 pace), and it felt really good. I'm pleased with today's workout.

AM - Easy 3 miles (22:13). Nice weather this morning.... I hope it lasts.

PM - It didn't last. Ran home from work, luckily the snow stopped, but it was much colder this afternoon. I need to measure the course, not sure exactly how far it is, but total time was 51:43. Somebody almost hit me, but that's the life of running on the roads.

AM - I had some homework to finish this morning, so I didn't get the tempo in.... tomorrow should work out, though. Ran 4 miles on the river trail; the weather was nice. The legs feel a little tired, so I tried to take it easy. Overall pace of about 7:02.

PM - Ran home from work again... had to take a brief detour potty break and slipped on the ice. It was snowing pretty hard by the time I got home.

AM - It doesn't look like I'll be able to get my tempo in this week. Things didn't work out this morning, and I was planning a speed session for Friday that I think will be more useful than the tempo. Ahhh well, maybe I can squeeze something in Saturday.

Anyway, 4 easy miles this morning, about 7:10 pace overall. I was lucky with the fall yesterday; I landed on my hip and knee... something that has taken me out for months before. The knee is a little tender, but there's no pain when running.

AM - 6 miles easy down Provo River trail. Not much to report about. Total time: 42:18.

PM - I was at the school tonight, and took the opportunity to run my speed workout. The plan was 12 x 300m with 1:30 rest in (hopefully) 1500m race pace (48 seconds), and that's about how things went. Here's the breakdown:

50, 50, 49, 48, 49, 48, 47, 48, 48, 48, 47, 46 <---- I think that averages to 48

That track never gets any rest, it's amazing. The inside lane was full of people, which I find extremely irritating, but maybe it's just me. I always try to breathe loudly as I come up to someone, and if they don't move, I buzz them as close as possible to let them know they're blocking traffic. Usually people get the hint from that, but you'd be surprised.

Anyway, I was pleased with the workout, although I'm not confident that it was the right mix of distance/speed/rest. I was hurting pretty good by the end, but there was no tightening in my legs, I felt loose and relaxed the whole way. Back in high school, it was all I could do to finish speed workouts, but tonight I thought I could manage a couple more. Maybe 1:15 rest would have been more ideal.