dedication, perseverance, self-discipline

This week was a bit easier than in previous weeks from an intensity standpoint.  I didn't run much hard, however Sasha and I did run a few 200's here and there during the week, and I ran a single hard 200 on Thursday in 27 seconds.  My hamstrings are feeling it a little from running the 200's as I am not used to it.  20 mile long run on Saturday.  I ran the first 16 with Sasha, running the last 4 miles (minus a little) in 22:31.  I then was going to run a little farther, but I was not sure if I wanted to run 2 more miles or 4.  I accidentally ran past my turn-around for 2 miles, so I ran 4.  I finished the run in 2:11:XX.  My legs felt pretty good at the end of this one, which I took to be very positive given the fact that this is my third consecutive 20 miler in 3 weeks after not running any runs over 16 miles for 2 months.

On a very negative note, I found out after getting home from work on Saturday night that I had not been accepted into the masters program at BYU for exercise science despite having one of the best applications that was turned in (according to one of the BYU professors).  I found out later that they didn't like that I still had a bunch of prerequisite classes that I still needed to take (despite my plans to take those classes during the spring and summer terms).  There was also a shortage of available professors who could take on masters students due to current masters students not graduating in time (this was really the biggest determining factor).  So, I need to figure some things out now.

So, I am finally caught up enough that I can get back to blogging my daily runs rather than giving weekly summaries.  I ran with Sasha this morning.  We finished 10.2 miles in 1:22:XX (I know that Sasha is probably counting it as 10.18, but I am just going to round things off as I probably undercut myself on mileage more often than not when I run from my house).  We did run a couple fast 200's during the run ranging from a 31 to a 28 (or even a high 27).

I ran from my house this morning, and met Sasha on the trail.  I ended up finishing 10.1 miles in just under 1:18:00.  Nothing too special to report.

Kimia and I went to the temple last night, and we got home late, so I slept in this morning and ran in the evening.  I ran 10.1 miles and finished in about 1:16:00.  The run felt pretty easy.

I ran with Sasha again this morning.  I finished 10.1 miles in just under 1:17:00.  My calves felt somewhat tight in the afternoon so I was massaging them some.  I was surprised to notice in the evening that my right calf was kind of tight as well as the left.  This is rare for me.  Tightness is almost always felt exclusively on the left side in my case.  It is probably because I ran about 8 miles on my forefoot yesterday, and ran maybe a couple miles like that today as well.  Nothing too serious as far as tightness is concerned.  I actually suspect that my experimentation of this kind is partly why my foot and knee have mostly healed now.  I think that changing my form on occasion helped to give my foot and knee a little rest that they otherwise would not have gotten.  I am still waiting to see if this type of running will help strengthen my calves so that they become more injury resistant.

I started off the run a little quicker, and hit the halfway mark in 35:15, but I slowed down during the second half to a more reasonable easy run pace and finished in 1:14:21.

I ran a little earlier than I normally do on Saturday, because Sasha had to be somewhere.  Added to this is the fact that I ran late yesterday evening, and I was finishing over 30 miles of running in about 13 hours.  In hindsight I probably did not eat enough yesterday evening knowing that I was going to run a long run in the morning.

Anyhow, the goal was to start of at a brisk pace in the 6:30-6:40 range, and to slowly speed up over the course of the run.  Things started off well and we made it through the first quarter of our run to the first turn-around in 31:15.  We made it back to Sasha's house to finish about 10.18 miles in 1:01:35 (30:20) and I took off my coat, hat and pants.  After I got rid of the excess clothing I felt like I was barely making any effort and I was running considerably faster.  Sasha kept having to ask me to back off the pace just a little bit so that I would not drop him.  We finished the next quarter of our run in 29:11 (1:30:46) and I am thinking that I definitely would break the 2 hour mark for a run that I will round down to 20.35 miles since we do not know the exact distance due to the construction.  Sasha ask me to take him through the 6 mile mark (of the last 10 miles) at which point I would take off and finish faster.  However, once we hit the marker I could tell almost immediately that something was wrong.  I felt like there was nothing in my legs to really get going faster.  So, I made no effort to hit 5:20 pace like I was planning, but I instead only got into the mid 5:30's.  I made it a mile and a half at this pace, and then really started to hurt.  I realized that I was running out of fuel, and I struggled to get back to Sasha's house as quickly as possible, running the last mile in 6:51 (10:01 for the last 1.5) and finished the run in 2:01:18.

So, on the positive end of things, I still averaged under 6:00 pace for the entire run despite crashing, and I felt really, really good until it was time for me to speed up (about 16 miles in).  I wonder if I could have avoided the crash altogether if I simply exercised some caution and never took off.  On the negative side of the spectrum, I ran out of fuel after only about 18 miles of a 20 mile long run that never got very fast.  That is a negative sign for my marathon hopes unless I can really get healthy enough to put in some serious mileage.  When I ran out of fuel, I also crashed hard, and I crashed fast.  Within 2 miles I was already barely breaking 7:00 pace.  If this was a real marathon I would have definitely gotten into the mid 8's before I finished.  However, I did run a 10 mile run that I didn't finish until after 8:30 last night, I didn't eat enough yesterday evening, and I didn't take any fluids at all during the run, all things that are going to lead to a higher likelihood of a crash.  So, maybe things will be alright after all.

Post run my left heel and foot are pretty sore.  It is all due to calf tightness I am sure, although the primary sore spot is on the calcaneus where the achilles tendon attaches, so the location is a little different than normal.  I think that I will spend some time massaging it out this evening.  I will rub some wintercrest (I think) on it as well which I got from the St. George Marathon.

started off super slow.  Had to get going pretty fast at the end just to break 1:20:00.  Finished in 1:19:40. 

I started off today's run a lot faster than yesterday's, but I ran the middle miles a lot slower, so in the end I finished in about the same time 1:19:56 for 10.1 miles.

Last night, my wife gave birth to our beautiful baby girl.  Little Anita was born at 9:40 PM weighed 6 lbs 3 oz and was 17.5 inches long.  Kimia went into labor at 4:50PM, so the labor was less than 5 hours long, which is really quick for a first birth.  I attribute this almost completely to the fact that Kimia was trying hard to be active, often times going on 2-3 hour walks daily, for almost her entire pregnancy.  She was also trying hard to be healthy by eating right, so despite the fact that she had gestational diabetes our baby girl was teeny tiny, and wasn't one of those massive babies that take forever to push out.  I am so proud of Kimia and the baby.  They are doing great!

On the running front nothing much happened.  I was starting to come down with something, and staying up for the majority of the night pushed me over the edge, so I was not feeling well all day long, and ultimately decided not to run as I was going to do a shortened run anyhow. 

Back to running again now that I am feeling better, and Kimia and Anita are home from the hospital.  I ran 12.1 miles in the afternoon in 1:27:49.  Back to the grind tomorrow.

first early morning run since Anita was born.  I was surprisingly awake.  1:21:13 for 10.1 miles

I ran alone today.  I kept the long run easier and shorter today than normal.  15 miles in 1:35:25.  I ran 1.05 miles in the middle in 5:33.  I was really happy with this as I did not look at my watch the entire time, and my goal was to go as fast as possible while still staying relaxed.  I was surprised that I went as fast as I did.  I also picked up the pace just a little bit at the end of the run.

I ran a little longer this morning than I normally do because I don't work Monday's and I feel like I need to start raising the mileage again.  We ran a fat mile in 5:32 (quarter splits of 84, 85, 83, 80) which felt surprisingly good.  Later on I ran a little more of the run fast as I was checking the number of steps I take per minute while running hard.  Ends up that I am right at 200 steps per minute while running 4:40 pace.  1:49:29 for 14.5 miles

1:14:43 for 10.2 miles.  We ran what was supposed to be a fat mile in 5:07, and later ran a quarter in 1:05.  The fat mile felt really good considering the speed we were running.  Speed wise I am feeling great right now.  I just feel like I need to improve my mileage base in order to develop the ability to maintain the speed that I have as well as possible during a marathon.

I ran on my own today.  10.1 miles with 1 mile fast on the way out in 5:14, and a half mile on the way back in 2:38.  While I was running the fast half mile I really impressed this kid that was with some friends near the trail.  He ended up catching up to me on his bike about a mile later and seemed in awe about how fast I had been going.  I didn't have the heart to tell him that I wasn't pushing the pace that much.

I ran fairly easy with Sasha this morning and finished 10.1 miles in 1:17:10.  We ran a fat mile in the middle of the run in 5:45.

I ran alone today because I slept in this morning, but I found out later that Sasha slept in as well, so I don't feel so guilty.  I kept the pace easy today, although I was going too fast early on.  10.1 miles in 1:11:43 (34:29 first half, 37:14 second half).

The goal for today's long run was to run 3 x 3 miles at 5:40 pace with a 1.5 mile recovery between repeats.  I had a feeling before we started that it would end up being faster, because 5:40 pace is a little slow for me.  Anyhow, after a warm-up of just over 4 miles we started and ran the first repeat in 16:44 (5:38, 5:33, 5:33).  The next repeat was finished in 16:41 (5:34, 5:35, 5:32).  Between the first two repeats the plantar fascia on my left foot started to hurt just a little, but it did not bother me too much so I just continued on.  After the second repeat the plantar fascia was hurting a lot more.  I rubbed it a little bit before starting the third repeat hoping that it would not bother me during the last 3 miles.  I finished the last repeat in 16:16 (5:35, 5:35, 5:06).  During the last repeat we took it pretty easy for the first 2 miles, but then ran the last mile faster with quarter splits of 79, 81, 78, 68 (38, 30).  I was happy with the 30 second last 200 because it felt like a 32 and I thought I could have coaxed an extra second out of my legs if it were a race.  My plantar fascia did not bother me too much during the repeat, but afterwards it started hurting a lot, and I was limping.  I stopped and massaged it for about 5 minutes, and was then able to finish the run without too much discomfort.  Total of 20.1 miles in 2:19:31.  After getting home I iced the plantar fascia and then rubbed some stuff on it.  I kept my shoes off as much as possible because it bothers me more when I have shoes on.  By the time I left for work just before 3:00pm it was feeling a lot better.

10.2 miles with Sasha in 1:17:xx.  I could still feel the plantar fascia acting up a bit when I ran, but there was no pain.

Can't remember the time for today's run, but it was in the evening.  The plantar fascia was pretty tight, but again no pain while running.

My plantar fascia hurt at the beginning of my run today, and I almost turned around and went home.  However, the pain went away after about a mile, and my foot felt decent for the rest of the run.