dedication, perseverance, self-discipline

I ran the Provo City Half Marathon this morning put on by run13.com.  I was not sure exactly what to expect since I have not raced since January first of this year, and I really haven't run any serious races since the St. George Marathon last October.  I have also spent the last few months trying to fix my biomechanics and trying to realign my hips in order to become more efficient so that I can run faster without more effort, thus increasing my chances of qualifying for the Olympic Trials.  Today was the first test to see if this has actually been working.

I started the race, and within 100 meters I was completely alone (I ended up winning the race by over 10 minutes).  There was a strong headwind to start the race that kind of came and went.  In comparison to last year the wind was not as strong, but the weather was much wetter, raining off and on and even hailing/snowing at times and I did not have a pack of guys to run with.  Whenever I went around a particularly sharp corner I could feel myself slipping on the wet roads.  Splits are as follows:

1 - 5:09 - a little slower than last year, but windier

2 - 5:12 (10:21) - faster than last year, wind about the same

3 - 5:11 (15:32) - faster split than last year, wind about the same

4 - 5:15 (20:47) -  lost concentration a little bit this mile.

5 - 5:12 (25:59) - concentration better, needing to work a little more now.

6 - 5:17 (31:16) - marker was slightly off, wind not as bad here as last year

7 - 5:05 (36:21) - this marker was on, so 10:22 for a 2 mile split, wind still better than last year, and stays better until the last mile, although it was still somewhat windy at times.

8 - 10 16:04 (52:25) - as soon as I hit the river trail, I slowed down almost immediately.  It was like the trail just sucked all momentum out of my legs, and I couldn't run efficiently any more.  Part of it was the fatigue from running, and the fact that I am still not completely used to running with a forefoot strike, and part of it was the fact that running on the trail is just plain slower than running on the roads.

11 - 5:22 (57:47) - still feeling like I can't find a good rhythm.

12 - 5:26 (1:03:13) -  switched to a heel strike at the end of the previous mile, and I slowed down a bit more during this mile.  However, I think that it did give my calves a bit of a rest and I was able to pick it up a bit more the last mile.

13.1 - 5:43 (1:08:56) - 5:09 pace from 12 to the finish.  The last portion of the race was downhill, but there was more wind than during the previous miles.  I switched back to a forefoot strike, and with the rest that I had I felt like I was able to get into a better rhythm.  I was also off the trail again at this point, which helped things.  This mile was a little slower than the same section of the race last year (about 6 seconds), but my overall time was 1:42 faster than the course record that I set last year.

Overall I am very happy with the race, and with my progress.  I do feel like there is more room for improvement as I get more used to running more efficiently and hopefully can maintain pace a little better without the lag mid race.  Got 350 for the win, plus a watch. 

Easy run this morning with Sasha.  A little sore after the half on Saturday, but not too bad.

Not sore anymore, but I tweaked my back during the run today.  It hurt to breathe, which is not a good thing.  After the run I was stretching out my back and I ended up making things worse, and was rolling around on the ground in pain for a couple minutes.

My back is still pretty painful, and is probably only slightly better than yesterday.  I was able to run without too many problems as the pain lessened some in the evening and I ran then.

Still somewhat sore, but my back is feeling a lot better today.  However, I strained my right calf, probably as a result of changing my form due to the back pain, in addition to the stress from the half marathon a week ago.  The pain got worse after my run and it hurt to walk for a little while.

The calf pain is still pretty bad, so I took a day off to let my leg rest.  The strain was caused from calf muscles being too tight.  I am working on loosening them up, and once that is done I should get better pretty quickly.

I was able to run 10.3 miles this morning with minimal pain.  Later on in the afternoon I ran to work, and then ran home as well to end up with a total mileage of 16.1 on the day.  Both on the way too work and on the way home my calf started to hurt, but I was able to walk fine after finishing the run with minimal pain.  After work I iced my calf and that helped a lot in addition to massaging out the tight spots.

I ran easy with Sasha this morning, being careful to not stress the calf too much.  No pain, but I did feel a little tightness in the calf later on.  My back is also still sore, although not near as bad as it was last week.

I took it really easy again today so as not to stress my calf or back too much.  Nothing special happened.

I slept on the floor last night, because I think that my mattress might be too soft, and it is preventing my back from healing correctly, which is leading to additional soreness and pain.  Sleeping on the floor seemed to help.  I have also been using Sasha's inversion table on occasion with mixed results and I have started some strengthening exercises as well to strengthen my back in addition to stretching it out like I have been doing.  My calf was feeling a lot better today.  Finished the run in 1:14:55.

slept on the floor again.  My run today was a lot of fun.  I slept in this morning, so I had to run in the evening, and I went out to this ghost town of sorts that is all streets, sidewalks, street lamps, etc. but with only one destroyed house.  It was pretty windy because it is near the lake and there are no trees.  I think that someone was starting to develop the town, but then ran out of money when they had only just barely gotten started.  I looped around the different streets on the property, and on some trails next to the lake for about 8 miles in addition to running 2 miles at home.

I ran with Sasha this morning.  We ran a 600 in 1:46 near the beginning of the run, and then later on while Sasha was taking a vpb we bot passed by Brad Osgothorpe (not sure about the spelling) who used to run for Weber State.  We sped up for about a mile in order to catch him and find out his name.  Later on while we were heading back home Brad passed us again as he was running a tempo and was heading back.  We sped up for about 1000m hitting that in 3:18.  Finished 10.35 miles in 1:14:XX.  My back is still just slightly sore, but it is feeling better every day.

Well, this race report is a little late, but I figure it is better late than never, so here it goes.  I got up at 6am, and was at the race by about 7:15.  I ran the race course as a warm-up, ran a few strides and then waited for the race to start.  As the race name suggests this race is put on for law day every year, and is put on by a bunch of area law firms.  There is a competition between the different law firms where they recruit runners for their speed teams.  Our team this year was running for Manning Curtis, and was comprised of myself, Paul, Josh Steffan, Lindsey Dunkley, and Emily Bates.  Our main competition was a team put together by Olsen Shader (?) with Teren Jameson, Nate Hornock, and Albert Wint being our male competition (not sure who the women were).

Anyhow, the race started and like usual Teren took off at a sprint from the gun.  Knowing that he would do this I decided that I wanted to see how long I could hang with him and I took off just slightly behind him.  When the course started uphill I made up the distance and tucked in behind him.  My goal was to try and stay as close as possible for as long as possible.  When I ran this race last year I was able to maintain contact through the first mile, and after that Teren slowly pulled away from me.

About a half mile into the race I  was wondering how long I could maintain the pace for.  I was breathing really hard, and my legs were burning already.  I got a little break once we hit a slight uphill as I felt like Teren backed off some.  I felt like Teren backed off just a little on almost every uphill during the first half of the race and I was crowding him from behind.  I even debated passing him a few times, but decided against it.  I guess that it goes to show the respect that everyone has locally for Teren.  There was no way that I was going to try and take a lead on a runner of his caliber until the very end in a race this short.  Just before the mile mark I could see Paul coming up on us from behind in my peripheral vision, but by the time we hit that mark I could no longer see him, and I refocused on staying with Teren.  Hit 1 mile in 5:00.  The course was the same as last year for approximately the first 2K, after which it was completely different than last year.  Hit the biggest uphill of the course from 1 mile to 2K and stayed with Teren, feeling pretty good still.  Hit 2K in 6:20.  I stayed right on Teren's tail for the rest of the race, hitting 3K in 9:16 (2:56) and 4K in 12:12 (2:56).  Teren started to gap me just a bit between 3K and 4K, but I dug down and held it together.  I was right on his tail again by the time we hit 4K.  Just past that mark we were crossing the first part of the course again and the lead car had to stop because of the walkers that were in the way.  Teren and I both ran up alongside the car. Teren had to push off of it, and I almost hit the car as well before it got out of the way.  We then continued on with Teren leading until just before the last corner.  There was a slight downhill before the turn, and as we came towards the corner I made my move, passing Teren.  After rounding the corner however, Teren made his move and I couldn't respond.  He pulled ahead coming down the last straightaway and finished in 14:52, while I finished 3 seconds back in 14:55.  Paul came in third in 15:16, followed by Nate Hornock in 15:19.

I am very happy with this race, as this is the closest I have ever come to beating someone of Teren's caliber.  I also performed well in comparison to many of the other runners in the race, beating them by as much or more than I expected to, so I am really happy with how I did.  In the past I have wondered if I really will be able to hit an OTQ mark in the marathon.  Now however, I am not thinking so much about whether or not I can hit the mark eventually but about how much faster I can potentially go.

I ran easy with Sasha this morning.  Finished the run in 1:19:47.

I ran with Sasha this morning.  We ended up running 3x1200 during the run in 3:57, 4:02, 3:50.  I felt tired during the repeats.  I think that not getting enough sleep the last couple nights, along with not being used to the stress on the nervous system that comes from running as fast as I did in the race on Saturday made me feel more tired than usual.  Total time of 1:18:45 for the run.

PM: 5 miles in 37:19.  Didn't feel as tired as I did this morning. 

I ran with Anita in the jogging stroller for the first time today.  Finished 10.1 miles in 1:22:11.  So, slower than normal, but not too much slower.  I did notice that although I was not working too much harder than normal that there was an added muscular stress that I am not used to and I was feeling a difference by the end of the run.

Ran easy this morning with Sasha.  Finished the run in 1:21:07.  I was feeling really slow this morning.  I probably need to take it easy the rest of today.

I ran easy in the evening.  Finished the run in 1:17:05.

I ran a 20 mile long run with Sasha this morning in 2:18:04.  We ran up the Provo Canyon until we hit the 10 mile mark, which is almost at bridal veil falls.  On the way up the canyon we ran a 3 mile tempo in 17:28 (5:53, 5:49, 5:46).  We ran another 3 mile tempo on the same section of trail on our way back in 15:55 (5:28, 5:19, 5:08).  At the end of the run we ran 1.5 miles fast to finish the run hitting the last 1.5 in 8:28 (2:53, 2:50, 2:45 for half mile splits).

PM:  I ran home from work, first running to the church so that I could lock it up and turn out the lights, followed by running home.  This gave me an extra 3.7 miles for the day to finish it off.  This is actually the highest mileage that I have ever run in a single day, excluding the marathons. 

I ran later than normal this morning because Kimia and I went to the temple.  I ended up meeting Sasha on the trail a little after 10:00am because Kimia wouldn't let me drive any more due to the snow (I know, snow... on the 24th of May!!!).  Anyhow, I ended up running 14.5 miles in 1:54:52.  Luckily the snow turned into rain once I got onto the river trail, and stopped shortly after that.  However, there was still a lot of snow on the ground at the top of the hill as I was finishing my run, so I had to run on the shoulder of the road to avoid it all.

On a side note, I just found out some great news.  I have been extended a Strategic Plan Graduate Research Assistantship at UNLV that begins this upcoming August working with one of the biomechanics professors in the department of Kinesiology and others from the department of Physical Therapy.  We will be doing research with children who have cerebral palsy.  I guess that I do not officially have the assistantship yet as I have not officially accepted it yet, but I was excited so I decided to tell everyone about it first.  Another plus is that now I get to move to a real desert, not some fake desert where it snows at the end of May.

I slept in this morning and ran with the baby in the afternoon.

I ran 10.1 miles with Sasha in the morning.  Nothing special happened.

PM:  5 miles alone easy.

I ran with Sasha in the morning.  We ran fast for 2.25 miles trying to catch someone that Sasha had passed earlier, but we never saw him so eventually we gave up.

PM:  Ran 5 miles alone, and threw in some surges coming up the hill on the way home.  Finished in 36:42

I ran with Sasha in the morning.  Nothing special happened.

I ran with Sasha this morning.  We ran earlier than we normally do on a Saturday.  We ran to the lake and back twice, averaging close to 6:40 pace during the first 15 miles.  We ran a tempo for the last 5 miles.  I ran a lot harder the last mile and closed in 5:14.  28:54 for the last 5.1 and 2:09:54 for the run.

I ran the first 2 miles with Sasha and Benjamin, the next 10.2 miles with Sasha, and the last 3 miles mostly alone.  Sasha and I ran 1.5 miles hard in the middle of the run, hitting quarters in the low to mid 80's.  During the last quarter I held close to 80 second quarter pace for the first 300, and then ran the last 100 in 14 seconds.  8:17 for 1.5 miles.  I felt really good during the last 100.  I felt really smooth and did not feel like I was really straining as much as I would expect.  I was glad that I could go this fast at the end of a 1.5 mile interval.  Total time for the run was 1:52:11