dedication, perseverance, self-discipline

After running a 14 second last 100 during our interval yesterday, I wanted to see how fast I could run a quarter.  So, Sasha and I ran to the BYU track this morning and I ran an all out 400, while Sasha ran a 200.  I went through the first 100m with a high 13, hit 200m in 28, 300m in 43, and then finished in 57.25.  I was not too happy with the time, but I suspected a result similar to that, as my calves felt really tired this morning, and did not have much pop in them.  This is probably due to running 15 miles yesterday, all of it on my forefoot.  I am still not accustomed to running that far without heel striking at all.  Normally I will switch back and forth to let my calves get a break, while still providing a stimulus that will help me run more efficiently.  I suspect that in better circumstances I could probably run a 54.  I think that I will take a break from forefoot running tomorrow in order to give myself a rest, and I will stay on my heels for the day.

I ran with Sasha this morning, finishing 10 miles in 1:15:14.  My calves are feeling pretty sore near the insertion point into the tibia, so I was heel-striking almost exclusively during the run today.

PM:  I ran 5 miles, running the first with Kimia in 11:48, and finishing 5 miles in 44:49, running the entire time with the running stroller.  I normally do not count miles as slow as the first when adding up daily mileage, but since I had the stroller with me I counted it.

I ran 10.1 miles this morning, finishing in 1:19:57.  My calves were feeling better today than yesterday, but are still sore.  While Sasha was taking a vpb I rubbed my legs down a little bit.  The positive news is that there was no point tenderness on the bone, however I found a big knot in my right calf, and a smaller knot in the left calf.  These knots are the main reasons why my calves have been sore.  I rubbed them out later on in the morning, and it seemed to help a lot.

PM:  I ran 5 miles alone in 37:49.  My calves felt better than they did this morning, however I could still feel some tenderness/weakness while I ran.

I ran 10.1 miles this morning with Sasha.  We kept the pace easy, but for some reason my left calf started to bug me with about a half mile left in the run.  I iced the calf twice during the afternoon and it felt better later on in the afternoon.

I ran with Sasha this morning, finishing the first half of my run in 1:17:20.  We ran slow for the most part, but finished the last 1.25 miles in 7:08.  I then went back out and ran the same course again, but on my own.  I ran 1.5 miles fast about 6 miles into the second half of the run hitting the first mile in 5:33, and then closing with 83, and 81 second quarters for an 8:17, 1.5 mile split.  I also ran the last 1.25 miles of the run fast hitting quarter splits of 80, 82, 77, 78, 80 for a 1.25 mile split of 6:37.  The third quarter did get messed up because there was a local 5k on the river trail that ended during that quarter, and there were people just standing on the trail.  I ended up needing to stop running and I stopped and then restarted my watch as well, thus messing up the split.  Total time for the run was 2:26:47 for 20.35 miles.  

After I got home I ran 1 mile with Kimia in 10:23 while pushing the running stroller.  I am proud of how well Kimia did.  She was only 7 seconds off of her mile pr just a month and a half post gallbladder surgery, and a little over two and a half months post pregnancy.  She also negative split the mile, running the second half in 4:59 which might be her half mile pr.

I ran 10.2 miles with Sasha this morning.  We ran .75 miles fast on the way out in 3:56 (80, 78, 78), and on the way back we ran 1.5 miles fast in 7:47 (80, 77, 80, 77, 78, 75).  Everything else was really slow today.  Near the end of the run we ran into another BYU reject like myself and we ran with him for a bit and invited him to train with us.  I think his name was Daniel Vincent (maybe David or Dustin, I can't remember exactly).  Total time for 10.2 miles was 1:17:05.

After I got home I ran another mile with Kimia in 10:54.  She was feeling kind of tired today so she ran a little slower than she did on Saturday.  This mile was also a little long because we had to run around construction, so that added a few extra seconds.  I think that from now on I will count the mileage I run with Kimia as long as it is under 11:00 mile pace.  I guess it will also depend on how far she goes as well.

10.1 miles this morning.  We ran a half mile fast, in 2:59 to test out Daniel's current fitness a little.

10.1 miles this morning.  We kept the run pretty easy.

PM:  4 miles alone in 30:40 or so. 

I ran easy again this morning except for a half mile that I ran hard in 2:24.  We started off hitting the first 300 in 57 seconds (19, 19, 19) followed by a 200 in 34, and a final 300 in 53 (17, 18, 18).

Kimia set the alarm clock for me last night, and accidentally set it wrong.  I woke up late and then only had time for 7 miles.  I was looking for Daniel on the trail, but I didn't see him.

The race was supposed to start at 5:30 this morning, so I got up at 4:00 and Kimia dropped me off near the starting line at about 4:50.  I warmed up and was all ready by 5:30, but the start was a little late, so we didn't get going until 5:45.  The weather was decent, but it was a little cold, and the streets were wet.  There was probably a slight tailwind during the early miles, little to no wind in the middle, and a slight headwind later on.  I have had a cold for a few days now, however I was hoping that the impact would be negligible.

After the gun there was quick separation between the top group of 4 guys, and everyone else, with the top group consisting of myself, Paul, Seth Pilkington, and Brad Osguthorpe.  Splits are as follows:

1 - 4:54 - mostly downhill, but with a little uphill near the end.

2 - 5:17 (10:11) - uphill mile, where we crested the hill just before the end of the mile.

3 - 4:42 (14:53) - screaming downhill on this mile.

4 - 4:50 (19:43) - a lot of downhill as well, but with a few rollers in it.  Starts to rain some.  I also noticed that my breathing was really hard, even though I did not feel like I was really pushing the pace incredibly hard.

5 - 4:59 (24:42) - a few more rollers than the previous mile.

6 - 5:05 (29:47) - I got a side cramp early on in this mile, and got dropped by the group.  I was never able to recover from this (although the cramp went away after about a mile) and I struggled the entire rest of the race.

7 - 5:08 (34:55) - Struggling to maintain focus.

8 - 5:12 (40:07) - I am no losing much ground on the leaders, but I am still losing ground, albeit slowly.

9 - 5:12 (45:19) - I still feel decent physically, but things just do not feel right.  I do not feel smooth, or comfortable.

10 - 5:18 (50:37) - I am slowing down even more now, although I really don't feel any different than I did earlier in the race.

11 - 5:17 (55:54) - 1 second faster than the previous mile, so I am glad that I slowed the bleeding a little bit.  I realized that I was cutting it close as far as breaking 1:07:00 was concerned.

12 - 5:21 (1:01:15) - I lost focus even more during this mile, and slowed down more.  I knew that I would need to pick up the pace if I was going to break 1:07:00 and get the $250 bonus.

13.1 - 5:44 (1:06:59) -  I finished well during the last mile despite a few twists and turns, and a short but steep uphill going over the bridge (5:10 pace for the last 1.109).  I feel like I should have been able to maintain that pace during the previous miles, but mentally and physically I did not have it all there today.  Things just did not seem to really click for me today.

So, overall I am glad that I broke 1:07:00 and got the bonus, plus another $150 for placing fourth.  I guess getting a little money when you don't have much always feels good, but even still, I know that I should have been able to run significantly faster than I did today.  I feel like my performance at the Provo City Half was much stronger than today's performance, despite running a slower time, and I never felt right physically today.  I do think that the cold had something to do with it, but I also never felt like I was really running with a good rhythm for the majority of the race, and mentally I was thrown off.

Seth won the race, with Paul finishing in second, and Brad coming in third.  I was expecting Seth and Brad to run more or less how they did, but Paul surprised me a bit.  All in all, those guys all ran really well today.  I even wonder if I would have placed higher than 3rd or 4th if I did not feel a little under the weather and if I was able to run better, both physically and mentally.

10 miles in 1:13:58 down at sea level as I am in Washington for my Dad's retirement ceremony.  Still sore from the half marathon, but being at sea level the effort was not hard.

Same 10 mile loop as yesterday in 1:15:03.  I woke up at 3:20 AM to run before I went to the airport to catch a flight back to Utah.

I ran back in Utah again this morning.  Kept the pace slow.

Nothing special happened.

Another easy run.

I got a stomach bug yesterday, and as this is an easy week for me anyhow I decided to cut my long run short by a couple miles and I ran a bit slower than I normally do for long runs.  Finished 17.8 miles in about 2:10:00.

I ran with Sasha this morning.  We ran out to the end of the trail, and ended up running the uneventful half marathon, plus the construction detour.  Finished in 1:38ish.  I am not too sure on the time.

Easy run this morning.  Ran our normal route from my house down the hill, and towards the lake, then back.

10.1 miles in the morning.

 5 miles in the evening in 37:22. 

10.1 miles in the morning.

5 miles in the evening with the baby in the stroller in 40:48.  The pace was really slow, but I did not feel excessively tired, so I am not concerned. 

10 miles this morning.  Kept the pace slow like normal.

We ran 10 miles out towards bridal veil falls this morning, and then came back.  On the way out we ran one mile fast in 5:33 running uphill.  On the way back we ran a 3 mile tempo downhill in 15:57, and then 3 miles at the end averaging between 5:34 and 5:39 per mile on a section of the trail that went through tunnels, over bridges, and in general twisted and turned.  This last 3 miles was kind of slow because it was hotter than normal (about 76 degrees at the end) and we were getting a little dehydrated.  Finished in 1:18:57.

15.2 miles this morning in 1:46:05.  Ran 13.2 miles with Sasha, running the first 3 with Benjamin as well, while running the last 3 miles with Sasha at a moderate tempo pace.  Nothing too hard, but not easy either.

I ran at 6:00AM this morning just like normal.  We were able to run on the trail all the way back once we hit our turn-around and we skipped the detour.  It is not paved yet in the construction area, but it is not too bad.

5 miles with the baby in the running stroller in the evening.  I went really slow again, and kept the pace slower than 8:00/mile. 

I ran an 800 time trial this morning in 2:07.5 with splits of 1:03, 1:04 (possibly dead even splits, but I did not hit the lap time at 400).  My goal was to do it in about 2:05.  My high school pr was a 2:08, and I knew that the pr was weak, so I thought I could get it down to about 2:05 today but my legs just did not have it in them.  In hindsight I probably started off too conservatively, as I never really felt like I was running an 800.  The effort almost felt like a 1600 effort, but for some reason I had a hard time speeding up over the last 200m when I was trying to go faster to get the 2:05.  Even at the end, I was not in pain, and I felt more comfortable than I should have.  Part of this probably comes from not being accustomed to running that distance, as I have not run an all out 800 since I was 17.  I will probably try this again in about 2 weeks to see if there is improvement simply from being more comfortable.

I ran 5 miles in the evening.  I ran it faster than yesterday as I was not pushing the stroller.  Finished in about 38 minutes.