Run fast

woke up late and spent a couple of hours at the gym on machines, oh joy.  The run yesterday left my hip a bit sore so I opted for the elliptical followed by the stairmaster.

For awhile google was letting people change the weather but it doesn't seem to work now.

http://bitsandpieces.us/2012/04/01/google-weather-control/

crosstraining at the gym again.  legs are still tired.

Intentionally left my house late today so I could only get in 8 miles.  I need my legs to feel better before I can put in some hard runs.

Ran with the JAJA crew this morning.  Perfect weather and my legs actually had a bit more energy.  Maybe not the wisest decision but I just signed up for the SLC Full.  Truth be told it's probably one of my favorite courses/events because it winds through my old stomping grounds.

Post run I tried out the new energy coffee at 7-11 that has ginseng and vitamin B-12.  Sounds like the perfect recovery drink.

After an Andrea siting I ran through Sugar House to the U and back.  Since I left the school they have remodeled or rebuilt all of the facilities I used the most, including the library, field house and business school.  The new business school, funded by Eccles of course, is quite impressive.  They also have the new McCarthey Track which would have been nice have years ago.

I was only planning to run 10 miles because I woke up late but I felt surprisingly good so I continued on for another 4.  There were even a few moments that it felt smooth and effortless.

Stairmaster at the gym.  Nice break for the hip before a long run tomorrow.

Great run this morning.  Started at Highland, met up with Adam H. at the zoo then continued on to the top of the Emigration.  We battled some fierce winds for a couple of miles but luckily as we got into the canyon they calmed down.  At the top of Emigration we only had to wait a couple of minutes until ACorn and another guy crested the peak while running the Salt Lake 10 miler.  Ran 4 miles fairly hard then ran with ACorn for the last 4 miles of his race.  I hope he didn't mind the company.  He held up great, maintained around a 5:25 pace through the end and probably won by a few minutes.

Miles 12 through 19 splits: 5:15, 5:01, 5:07, 5:11,5:25,5:25, 5:25, 5:18

Average for run was 6:36.  This was the first run since the run down in American Fork (before I got the flu) where I felt strong through the end.  I also think I did just enough, but not too much damage, to the calves to get them road marathon ready. I wore the Saucony Mirages for the first time.  I agree with Jake that they feel good on longer runs.

Hip stuff at the gym afterwards.

Happy Easter! Ran from the gym up to the Legacy Bridge where I met up with Andrea, Allie, Jake and James. I ran 8.5 miles of the SLC Half course then went back to the gym and they continued on. I figured that I didn't need to remind myself of the State St. death march and hill two weeks before the race.

Cross training day. A couple of hard miles on the elliptical at the end. Feeling good.

Perfect morning for running.  Ran around Millcreek and Sugar House.

PM: 1 mile on stairmaster then lots of hip abductor reps. 

Early morning easy run with JAJA and the new addition, ACorn.  This made the group an even 6 and for once I wasn't the 5th wheel.  I won't say anything else about that.  Finished up the run with 1 mile on the treadmill at the gym then some hip exercises.

Ran around Millcreek and managed to get in 1 mile on the track at the Highland.  Weaving through and avoiding the student drivers was the most exciting part of the run.  Averaged around 6:35 for the run with two 5:20ish miles.

PM: 1 mile cross training then hip exercises. 

At the grocery store a women asked me if any good marathons were coming up because she noticed that I was wearing a running shirt.  I told her that the SLC Marathon was a week from Saturday.  A guy next to us heard my response and said, "So are they ruining the traffic again?"  To that I said, "Once a year" and left it that.  Funny how people get all bent out of shape when, for a few hours on ONE Saturday morning a year, they might get delayed for a few minutes on their way to the grocery stodre, hair dresser, home depot, gym, shopping mall, McDonalds or wherever else they might be going.

Cross training day and 1 fast mile on the treadmill to prep for the big 5k marathon tune up tomorrow. The hip is feeling much stronger but I still think these cross training days are helping it get back in shape.

I ran the Running for Relief 5k this morning.  It's a well organized and attended local race hosted by the Christ United Methodist that starts at the church (33rd S., 2375 E.) and then loops around the neighborhoods to the east.  Allie, James and James' friend also raced.

I jogged to the start from my house which was 2 miles then did another mile before the race started.  The race started promptly at 9 and the first half mile went straight up the street until it turned north on 27th east.  It went north of a block or two, turned left then another left then loop back up to 27th. From there it went north to 27th south, east on 27th for a few blocks, left on about 24th east then winded through the neighborhood to the finish.  Possibly because I haven't been doing many fast workouts this felt like one of the more difficult 5k courses I have ever run.  The first stretch up the straight up the street really gets your attention and then there are several other 1/4 mile climbs mixed throughout. Splits were 5:25, 5:30, 5:30.  Definitely not fast at least I shocked the system enough that the marathon effort next week should feel like a breeze. :)

I cooled down for a few miles after the race with the 5th place finisher then hoarded some frozen burritos with a grab bag.  Reser's is a sponsor and apparently they give out frozen burritos every year.  Plus they were handing out free car air fresheners.  Now I won't need to worry about leaving my gym clothes in the trunk.  I ended up winning a few tickets to the Hale Center Theatre, a night at the University Guest House and a hand crafted coffee cup.  Pretty nice.  They also did a raffle for a St. George Marathon entry and almost everyone won door prizes.  The organizers did a great job.

Ran around sugar house and millcreek and 2 miles on the TM at the gym.  Finished up with hip exercises and planks.  Took awhile for the legs to get going so I will probably take it easy the next couple of days.

Good luck to everyone running Boston tomorrow!

I did zero running today because I figured the Boston runners will make up for it.

I have "My Runners" all set up at http://www.baa.org/individual.html

So far so good.

Ran in the rain with a few quick miles. Legs are feeling good.

Easy JAF run around Sugar House. Marathon for the 3 of us in t minus 70 hours!

Standard day off two days before a race.  Stretching and weights at the gym.

Pre race tune up on the treadmill at the gym.  Mixed in some 5k pace quarter mile repeats to get the legs prepared for not quite sub 5k pace tomorrow.  I always try to drink more water leading up to races so rather than risking forgetting I drank one liter this morning in about 30 seconds.  A couple more liters and I should be good to go.

Considering where I am now compared to last year I think I should have a pretty race.  Tough to say where my time will end up because I don't know who else will be out there but I think I should be around 2:25.  We'll see.  I am just excited that I get to run the full again as last year I was coming off an injury and had a miserable experience in the half. 

Bib #2.  They said they didn't give out #1 but that makes me suspicious. :)

Good luck to everyone else running tomorrow!

In case you didn't know and didn’t get stuck in traffic, today was the SLC Marathon (not to be confused with the race that was on Monday).  When I showed up I had no idea who else would be there but I figured a $2,000 purse for a western state resident would attract at least a couple high teen marathoners. But to my surprise the only people I saw at the start line running the marathon were the locals, i.e. James, Dennis S., Rossy, Steve and Bill and then a couple of guys who had Boulder Running shirts. Of course this didn’t really change my mentality or strategy for the race but I was still surprised.

The race started promptly at 7 and I went out with Brad, Ben and Riley who were running the half.   Their first few miles were low 5’s, which felt slightly uncomfortable for the start of a marathon so I backed off a bit. Passed Jake and Lulu at about mile 1.5 and pretended that I wasn’t working hard. Went through the first 5k in 16:09 (just because I had to beat my 17:15 from last week) then had some slower miles as I rounded SHP and got back to 17^th east. Although that out and back in the SHP parking was  a little odd I am glad it was there or else I would have never known Seth was in the race and wasn’t too far behind. I didn’t look back again but just knowing he was there probably kept me more focused. The 17th east stretch felt fine but the hill up 27^th and up Keller Lane felt like it took a little out of me. Fortunately the Evergreen cheerleaders were out in full force with pompoms plus I knew that once I got on 23^rd and headed south my quads would have some time to recover. The next few miles felt good and I went through the halfway point at 1:11:33, which is exactly where I wanted to be. Miles 13 through about 17 were some of my favorite miles because they are slightly downhill and I oddly enjoyed the isolation and wide road on Van Winkle. After those miles I began the LONG straight stretch on 5^th east. It was super uneventful and all I can remember is some guy talking to my bike pacer about the pace car. After 2 hours staring at it my best guess is a corvette with an ugly white stripe. After the 5^th east march it was nice to merge with the half runners and run the rest of the way with them.  One girl sped up as I passed her and we probably ran .2 miles together, which means I ran solo for the other 26. This was about mile 24 and then I had the fun time of finishing up state street than running as fast as possible to the finish on South Temple. Gateway was a more exciting finish because it got louder but it was still fun to finish with a downhill stretch.

Overall I feel pretty good about the race. It was a 4.5 min PR on this course and despite going out a bit too fast, like always, I didn’t lose too much at the end. My only regret is I let one 6+ mile slip in at the end. :)

Enough about me. I think the performance of the day goes to Steve who threw down a 2:37 (1^st masters, 3^rd overall) only 5 days after Boston. Andrea also had a great come back run winning the half by 2 minutes. Ben, Allie, Devra, James, and Rossy plus the two troopers/pacers (Scott and Dan) all ran well.

After the race it was fun to hang out with Nicolai and Thomas (coolest kids in the world) and chat with many of the above.

30 minutes on stationary bike then some hip exercises, stretches, and hot tub. To my relief it doesn't appear that any major damage was done yesterday.  My hamstrings are more sore than anything else while my quads and calves feel surprisingly good. Chaffing is inevitable but skin heals fast.

For fun I charted my average marathon times (excluding some trail races) by year since my first in 2000. Then I plotted the polynomial trend line and excel magically gave me the trend line equation.  According to the trend I should hit the OTQ sometime in 2014 and break the WR in 2019. :)  Unfortunately age and human genetics are working against me so this line really needs to be logarithmic. For now I like the look of this line better.

y = -6E-05x2 - 0.0004x + 0.116

x is the year and y predicts the time.

Stationary bike

Stationary bike, a couple elliptical miles then a whopping .25 miles on the treadmill. No hurry to start running again but tomorrow or Thursday are probably doable.

Bike and stairmaster

A semi real run on the treadmill.  My hamstring is still sore but everything else feels good.

Sadly a duck was hit by a car in the parking lot at the gym.  Should the duck have seen the car or should the driver have seen the duck?   I think they are both to blame.

Slept in this morning, cleaned my kitchen then headed out for a run.  I didn't want to run anything hilly so I started south on 13th east and ended up retracing some of the slc marathon on van winkle.  To avoid having to think I turned around and 6.5 miles and ran the same route back.  Surprisingly I felt pretty good and averaged around 6:45 for the run.  I am considering running the provo half next Saturday.

14.5 miles with James and 2.5 by myself as I waited for him to get his running shoes.  Running shoes are important when it comes to running, at least for most people.  We started at SHP, went north through the U to 11th Avenue, down Memory Grove, north on 5th East to Liberty Park then wound our way through the streets back to SHP.  It was one of those runs where the legs felt just as good/bad at the end as they did at the start.  Average around 7 min pace.

Hip exercises, roller, weights, etc. at the gym afterwards.  Go Jazz!

Ancillary training day, as Rob most appropriately puts it. 552 floors on stairmaster, 1 on elliptical then a few minutes on the rowing machine.