dedication, perseverance, self-discipline

Midnight Madness 5k

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Location:

Alpine,UT,USA

Member Since:

Jan 01, 2008

Gender:

Male

Goal Type:

Olympic Trials Qualifier

Running Accomplishments:

3K: 8:58 Pocatello, ID 2003 (indoors at Idaho State)

5K: 14:55 Salt Lake City, UT 2010 (Law Day 5k)

10K: 29:33 Salt Lake City, UT 2010 (Des News 10k)

1/2 marathon: 1:06:59 Provo, UT 2010 (Utah Valley Half)

marathon: 2:21:59 St. George, UT 2009 (St. George Marathon)

Short-Term Running Goals:

To get running higher mileage more consistently without getting injured

Sub 2:19:00 marathon

Personal:

I used to run competitively, and maybe I will do so again someday.  Right now I am primarily running to try and get in better shape, and to maintain both physical and emotional health, but also for the simple joy that comes when I run.

I am also the proud daddy of five little ones.  I love the opportunity that I have to be a daddy, and my challenge is to balance my family responsibilities with work and running.

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Miles:This week: 0.00 Month: 0.00 Year: 0.00
Asics Speedstar Lifetime Miles: 2020.05
Asics Gel Ohana Racer Lifetime Miles: 2332.20
Adidas Adizero Lifetime Miles: 1375.45
Barefoot Lifetime Miles: 183.10
Nike Free 5.0 Lifetime Miles: 2221.85
Saucony Kinvara Lifetime Miles: 795.92
Puma Faas 200 Lifetime Miles: 381.50
Puma Faas 250 Lifetime Miles: 466.10
Altra Adam Lifetime Miles: 1836.85
Baretrek Lifetime Miles: 290.15
Hoka Conquest Lifetime Miles: 41.00
Easy MilesMarathon Pace MilesThreshold MilesVO2 Max MilesTotal Distance
170.852.003.960.19177.00
Barefoot Miles: 16.50Altra Adam Miles: 72.50Puma Faas 250 Miles: 19.00Asics Gel Ohana Racer Miles: 17.50Saucony Kinvara Miles: 18.50Nike Free 5.0 Miles: 17.00Puma Faas 200 Miles: 7.00Adidas Adizero Miles: 10.00
Easy MilesMarathon Pace MilesThreshold MilesVO2 Max MilesTotal Distance
9.000.000.000.009.00

9 miles in 1:11:05.  I felt a little stiff when I woke up this morning, and I thought that I might feel some residual soreness from the 5000 meter time trial I ran on Saturday.  Fortunately I felt good while out on my run today and I didn't feel any noticeable soreness or stiffness.  I could tell yesterday that the workout on Saturday was harder than I was accustomed to, but even yesterday the soreness was limited.

Barefoot Miles: 1.50Altra Adam Miles: 7.50
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Easy MilesMarathon Pace MilesThreshold MilesVO2 Max MilesTotal Distance
9.000.000.000.009.00

I started the run barefoot and ran the first mile in 9:07, and I made it to 1.5 miles in 13:07 before stopping to put shoes on.  After that I slowly caught up to the 8:00 guy and finally passed him just before the 7 mile mark.  Total time for 9 miles was 1:11:30.  Average pace after the first mile was 7:47.

Barefoot Miles: 1.50Altra Adam Miles: 7.50
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Easy MilesMarathon Pace MilesThreshold MilesVO2 Max MilesTotal Distance
10.000.000.000.0010.00

I ran later than normal today because Kimia had a glucose tolerance test in the morning.  I ended up running with the kids in the stroller to the hospital to meet Kimia after the test (about 2.5 miles), then we had to run to Walgreens before running home.  I had run about 5.5 miles at this point, and seeing that the run was so broken up I decided to run a little extra in order to get to 10 miles on the day instead of just 9 as I had originally planned.

I ran over to the high school because I wanted to run a few strides barefoot on the track.  I found out fairly quickly that it was a bad mistake.  At 2:45pm with a black track my feet got roasted.  I tried to go into the grass, but the grass was actually hotter than the track because it was synthetic.  I only ran 2 laps barefoot and by the end of the second lap my feet were in a fair amount of pain.  I ran home after that, and I finished up the run with a total of approximately 10 miles in 1:20:25.

Barefoot Miles: 2.00Puma Faas 250 Miles: 8.00
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Easy MilesMarathon Pace MilesThreshold MilesVO2 Max MilesTotal Distance
10.500.000.000.0010.50

I planned on running 9 miles this morning, but I ended up running 10.5.  Kimia took the kids to a multi-ward breakfast at a local park, and after she left I though it would be nice if I ended my run at the park so that I could help her bring the kids home before the parade.  So, I ran 9 miles finishing at the park and realized once I got there that Kimia had already left and gone home.  After debating what to do for a minute or so I ended up running the last 1.5 miles home.  Total time for the run was about 1:22:00.

Barefoot Miles: 1.00Altra Adam Miles: 9.50
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Easy MilesMarathon Pace MilesThreshold MilesVO2 Max MilesTotal Distance
9.000.000.000.009.00

I noticed some bruising on my left knee yesterday evening while at a concert (featured music by John Sousa as well as some additional patriotic songs played by the Ames Municipal Band).  I'm not sure where it came from, and it doesn't hurt, so I am not too worried.  Just to be safe I wore normal shoes when running today (albeit shoes with over 2,000 miles on them).  I will watch the knee over the next few days to make sure nothing is wrong.

My whole family also came down with food poisoning yesterday evening.  The likely culprit was food we took to the parade yesterday afternoon.  It sat out in the sun all afternoon, and we didn't end up eating it until we went to the concert later on in the evening.  Both kids started throwing up in the evening after we got home, while Kimia and I both felt nauseous.  I ended up throwing up at 5:30 am.

As a result of everything I already mentioned I decided to take today's run really easy.  I told Kimia before I left the house that I felt as if I would throw up while out running.  Unfortunately I was right.  I stopped at 0.75 miles to void some liquid nastiness from my southward region, I stopped a second time just past 3 miles to void a different type of liquid nastiness from my northward region, and finally I stopped at about 4.25 miles for a third and final time to void from my southward region again.  I contemplated cutting the run short because I felt gross, but ultimately I decided to just keep running slowly and to finish the run.  I ended up running 9 miles in 1:16:08.

After finishing the run I drank some water which brought on more nausea.  I ended up lying down for a while which seemed to help some.  Hopefully I will be able to get some food down later on today, because I am hungry.

Asics Gel Ohana Racer Miles: 9.00
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Easy MilesMarathon Pace MilesThreshold MilesVO2 Max MilesTotal Distance
8.002.000.000.0010.00

I ran 10 miles this morning in 1:14:31.  The first 1.5 miles were barefoot, and the rest wearing shoes.  At the end of the run I ran the final 2 miles hard (measurement is approximate).  I was lucky in that I did not have to stop at any stoplights during those 2 miles.  According to the course tool I started the 2 mile tempo at 903 ft elevation, I hit 1 mile at 950 ft, and ended at 945 ft.  This would lead me to believe that the first mile is slower than the second.  However, I ended up running the first mile in 5:44, and the second in 5:48.  Both miles have 6 turns in them, but the turns in the second mile are much sharper than those in the first making it slower than you would guess.  The second mile also rolls quite a bit slowing it down even more.  The first mile, while gaining 47 feet does have one stretch with a decent downhill in it, but otherwise climbs fairly consistently.  I had a hard time getting my legs to really move in the second mile, maybe due to all the uphill in the first mile and the turns?  According to the temperature I looked at online it was 75 degrees at the start of my run and 84 degrees at the finish.  My initial impression is that the heat did not affect me much.  I will need to think a bit more about that 2 mile tempo before I can really make any conclusions from it.

Update:  I ended up mapping the last 2 miles of my run on the course tool (I did it twice because the first time there was an error and it wiped out the whole thing).  Both times I mapped it out the distance counter showed 2.00 miles prior to hitting the Save button (it says 1.9922 when I press analyze... grrr) so I am pretty happy with myself and my ability to guess how far 2 miles was without any trail markers for guidance (There was a small section in the trees that I could not map as accurately as I wanted, but I was still able to follow the 'road' from the road overlay on the satellite image).

What does appear to be a little off is my estimated mile marker, explaining most of the discrepancy in split times (splits should probably be right around 5:45 and 5:47, or maybe both at 5:46).  The course tool says that the course is worth about .1 miles more than the actual distance due to the elevation change.  Knowing this brings things into focus for me a bit more.  It appears that I am a poor uphill runner currently, and after running uphill I seem to have trouble changing gears to get moving again (I could feel that problem during the second mile of the tempo run today).  Maybe I should start to focus on improving my uphill running ability.  I might start by running uphill strides and then work my way up to running shorter repeats up the massive hill near the 1 mile mark of the tempo.

Barefoot Miles: 1.50Saucony Kinvara Miles: 8.50
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Easy MilesMarathon Pace MilesThreshold MilesVO2 Max MilesTotal Distance
9.000.000.000.009.00

Today is my little boy's birthday.  Happy birthday Shayon!

I ran 9 miles this morning in 1:09:53.  It would have been a little slower, but I sped up for a bit to catch up to another runner.  The first two miles were barefoot and the rest was with shoes on.

Here is a picture of my birthday boy that I took before his birthday party.

 

Barefoot Miles: 2.00Altra Adam Miles: 7.00
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Easy MilesMarathon Pace MilesThreshold MilesVO2 Max MilesTotal Distance
7.850.000.960.199.00

I ran 9 miles today in 1:08:58.  First I ran over to the track, and after finishing up 2 miles barefoot (1 mile to the track plus 1 mile on the track), with one stride of about 50 meters thrown in to get the legs moving, I ran a small workout.  After my 2 mile tempo last Saturday exposed some weaknesses of mine I decided to take a beginning step towards fixing things.  The two main weaknesses that I could think of were a weakness when running uphill (lack of strength/power), and an inability to get my legs moving at a reasonable pace once the terrain flattened out (potentially for the same reason).

I have come up with a few ways that I can remedy those problems.  My main idea is that I simply need to run more, and that the strength will come from putting more miles in my legs as I get in better shape (this should fix at least 90% of the problem).  The next idea is to run hill repeats and instead of backing off at the top of the hill I will attempt to pick up the pace (at least maintain the effort) once the terrain flattens out for a minute or so.  Another idea I have considered is to do some box jumps, etc every other day or so (I am not so keen on this idea) in order to increase strength/power without needing to go to a gym to lift weights.  Another idea is to run a hard but submaximal effort for a set distance, followed by running some short sprints immediately after finishing in order to get myself used to changing gears even when fatigued.

The final idea listed above is what I decided to start with today because it seemed to be the easiest logistically for me to pull off (other than simply running more, which I am doing already), while it was also easy for me to keep the workout small enough that it should not put me over the top from a fatigue perspective (this has been a problem lately as I have been building mileage which has forced me to basically eliminate hard workouts).  I decided to run a fast 1600 with a sprint over the last 50-80 meters, followed by more short sprints every 200 meters thereafter (approximately).  I thought that 5:20 for 1600 should be fast enough, but I decided to not look at my watch and just focus on how things felt rather than the time.

I started the 1600 fairly quickly, however I slowed down after maybe 200 meters and settled into a nice pace.  It had rained earlier in the morning and I could tell it was much more humid than it has been lately.  I could see the steam rising off of the track when the sun came out from behind the clouds.  I ended up starting my final sprint with maybe 60 meters left and I finished the 1600 in 5:16, so pretty much right where I was hoping to be.  After 200 meters I ran the next sprint, and I repeated this every 200 meters thereafter (so about 150 meter recovery) until I had completed 4 additional sprints.

After finishing the workout I feel like this did not target my problem areas in the way that I had hoped.  I really do need to add the hills into the initial hard portion of the workout for it to work.  The hard 1600 just did not feel like it was taxing enough to do what I wanted, while running at speeds that are fast enough to stress me sufficiently may get me hurt.  If I run this same workout with the hard mile run uphill I will not need to run as fast, but I should be able to stress the system sufficiently to produce some sort of effect.

Barefoot Miles: 2.00Altra Adam Miles: 7.00
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Easy MilesMarathon Pace MilesThreshold MilesVO2 Max MilesTotal Distance
9.000.000.000.009.00

I ran 2 miles barefoot, followed by 7 miles with shoes.  Total time was 1:10:55.  I actually passed the 2 mile marker on accident without realizing it so I ran a little over two miles barefoot (about 1:00-1:30 extra).

My assumption is that accidentally passing up the two mile mark is a good thing as rather than anticipating when I get to put shoes on, because it hurts to run without them, I am starting to just relax and run without worrying what it is that I am about to step on.  However, to be honest I still feel like the skin on the bottom of my feet is fairly soft.  I would have thought that with the amount of time I spend unshod either running or walking around outside that my feet would have developed tougher callouses by now.

Barefoot Miles: 2.00Nike Free 5.0 Miles: 7.00
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Easy MilesMarathon Pace MilesThreshold MilesVO2 Max MilesTotal Distance
10.000.000.000.0010.00

9 miles in 1:13:59.  Things just felt off today, so I ended up running pretty slowly.

PM: We took the kids to the mall, and I ended up running most of the way home.  About 1 mile extra. 

Barefoot Miles: 1.00Altra Adam Miles: 9.00
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Easy MilesMarathon Pace MilesThreshold MilesVO2 Max MilesTotal Distance
9.000.000.000.009.00

I still felt off, similar to yesterday so I mainly just trudged through my run again.  9 miles in 1:14:20.  I did speed up to about 7:00 pace for one quarter, and oddly enough that felt more comfortable than the slower speeds I had been running.  Hopefully this is a good sign for my chances at the race I am running tomorrow evening.

Barefoot Miles: 1.00Altra Adam Miles: 9.00
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Race: Midnight Madness 5k (3.107 Miles) 00:17:11, Place overall: 19
Easy MilesMarathon Pace MilesThreshold MilesVO2 Max MilesTotal Distance
5.000.003.000.008.00

Bad race.  Not much to report on the race itself as I was sick, and I have been feeling really tired lately.  I have also been getting bad rashes that cover most of my body and had another flare up a few hours after the race which, along with some other symptoms, prompted a trip to the emergency room at 1 AM.  About an hour after the race I also started getting bad chills, and I was shivering so bad that I was biting my tongue, my back and other muscles were locking up, and I could barely walk.  Before the race I was also having some issues as I felt like I was not getting much air in.  It felt like my airways were slightly constricted and dry.

After the race started I made efforts to not start off too fast, but still started off faster than I should have.  My goal for the first mile was 5:20, but I ended up with about a 5:10-11 (estimated as I missed the mark by a few seconds and did not look at my watch until it read 5:13).  I was in 13th place and already moving backwards.  I was passed by two people about 100 meters later pushing me into 15th place.  I stayed there until just before the 2 mile mark when I passed one of them back hitting 2 miles in 10:39.  Within a quarter mile however two more people passed me, with a third passing me shortly thereafter.  Two more people passed me during the final straightaway pushing me back into 19th place.

I started having a side stitch during the second mile.  I felt like I was still not getting enough air in.  I drank a little water at an aid station which made things worse.  I struggled fighting cramps, nausea, and side stitches for the rest of the race.  It didn't help that the last ~1.25 miles was almost all into a headwind (lots of tailwind during parts of miles 1 and 2, but we had to run back into it at the end).

So, the race was not one I want to remember, but Anita was able to run her first ever "race".  She doesn't quite get the concept of running as fast as you can.  She just trotted along and enjoyed the 45 seconds it took her to run down the street and back (when she is excited and is playing she can run rather fast, but minus the motivation she will not run fast at all).  They gave super hero capes to all of the kids, which Anita liked.  I also gave her my age group medal as a prize for running.  Shayon slept through the entire thing or he would have run as well.

Some pictures:

Anita showing off her cape

Anita and I before the race

 

Anita and the other kids running in the kids dash

Anita and the superhero runner lady after the race

 

 

I guess we forgot to take pictures of Shayon because he was sleeping in the stroller... Oh well. 

 

Barefoot Miles: 1.00Puma Faas 200 Miles: 7.00
Comments(2)
Easy MilesMarathon Pace MilesThreshold MilesVO2 Max MilesTotal Distance
0.000.000.000.000.00

The Dr. at the ER yesterday recommended that I take a little time off just to be safe.  I rode the bike to a follow up appointment today and did not feel good so I decided to follow his counsel.  The Dr. ordered some blood tests which will hopefully tell me something.

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Easy MilesMarathon Pace MilesThreshold MilesVO2 Max MilesTotal Distance
6.000.000.000.006.00

I ran 6 miles in 48:53.  I felt horrible during the run.  The run would have been slower except I ran 1 mile in 6:35 in an attempt to test things out.

I also found out yesterday that one of my blood tests was off.  It was the C-Reactive Protein test.  This is produced by the liver and elevated levels provide a general clue that inflammation is present somewhere in the body.  My levels were not super high, but they were higher than normal.  I have another appointment tomorrow.

Altra Adam Miles: 6.00
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Easy MilesMarathon Pace MilesThreshold MilesVO2 Max MilesTotal Distance
8.500.000.000.008.50

I ran 8.5 miles today in 1:11:12.  I did not feel good, but I felt better than yesterday.  I actually think that I felt worse yesterday because I did not run 4 days in a row.  Running fatigues me at the moment, but not running leaves me more fatigued in the long run.

I also had another Dr. appointment today.   The Dr. ordered more tests including tests for ferritin and rheumatoid factor.  It is actually possible that my ferritin levels are too high, while rheumatoid factor is an initial test for arthritis.  The Dr. ordered some more tests, but I do not remember what they all are.  He also said that he would probably refer me to a rheumatologist.

Asics Gel Ohana Racer Miles: 8.50
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Easy MilesMarathon Pace MilesThreshold MilesVO2 Max MilesTotal Distance
11.000.000.000.0011.00

11 miles in 1:30:33.  The run was super slow again, but I was actually happy with it as I felt better than yesterday, and I ran the last 4 miles in 32:06, which is not bad considering my first mile was 8:49.

Puma Faas 250 Miles: 11.00
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Easy MilesMarathon Pace MilesThreshold MilesVO2 Max MilesTotal Distance
10.000.000.000.0010.00

I ran 10 miles today in 1:20:49.  Last 4 miles in 31:16.  Other than the race on the 13th and some minimal speedwork I haven't run anything that fast for a while, which is kind of sad considering my fastest mile today was only 7:42.  I am feeling better pretty much every day, so that is good.  The exeption to this was Sunday, but I had no run planned as usual and I took a 4 hour nap.

Adidas Adizero Miles: 10.00
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Easy MilesMarathon Pace MilesThreshold MilesVO2 Max MilesTotal Distance
10.000.000.000.0010.00

I ran 10 miles this morning in 1:19:46.  I was happy to average under 8:00 pace for the first time in a while.  My first mile was 8:29, but due to a mild tailwind I had caught the 8:00 guy by the 5 mile mark where I turned around.  I had a mild headwind and net elevation increase the second half of the run so I ran right around 8:00 pace for the rest of the run.

Altra Adam Miles: 10.00
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Easy MilesMarathon Pace MilesThreshold MilesVO2 Max MilesTotal Distance
10.000.000.000.0010.00

I ran 10 miles this morning in 1:18:46.  I hit 5 miles in 39:24, and ran the second half of the run in 39:22.  The running has been getting better and better every day lately.  Last night was rough as I felt run down and I was having headaches, but after 10 hours of sleep I felt decent this morning.

Saucony Kinvara Miles: 10.00
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Easy MilesMarathon Pace MilesThreshold MilesVO2 Max MilesTotal Distance
10.000.000.000.0010.00

I ran 10 miles today in 1:18:39, hitting the halfway mark in 40:03, and finishing the second half in 38:36.  I felt kind of sluggish at the beginning, however my legs seemed to wake up just before I hit the halfway mark, and I sped up quite a bit.  I ran the last mile in 7:27/7:28, which surprised me a little bit.

I have another Dr. appointment tomorrow morning.  We will see what comes of it.  From the results I got from my blood work last Friday it seems one of the liver tests they did had borderline high (or low?) values, but additional testing came back normal.  All of the other tests were supposedly normal, but I will hear more about this tomorrow.  Blood testing can be frustrating at times because of the huge ranges that are accepted as normal in the medical community.  Unless your test results are so far off that you are incapable of performing general daily tasks it is hard to know if a value is actually off for a specific individual.

Nike Free 5.0 Miles: 10.00
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Easy MilesMarathon Pace MilesThreshold MilesVO2 Max MilesTotal Distance
0.000.000.000.000.00

I found out today that I have Mono.  I had felt sluggish at the beginning of my run yesterday, as well as yesterday evening and this morning.  This explains part of the problems I was having.  I decided to take a little time off so that things don't get worse.  I have heard horror stories of people that still tried to exercise when they had mono.

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Easy MilesMarathon Pace MilesThreshold MilesVO2 Max MilesTotal Distance
0.000.000.000.000.00

no running so far this week.  I have been sleeping a lot.

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Easy MilesMarathon Pace MilesThreshold MilesVO2 Max MilesTotal Distance
170.852.003.960.19177.00
Barefoot Miles: 16.50Altra Adam Miles: 72.50Puma Faas 250 Miles: 19.00Asics Gel Ohana Racer Miles: 17.50Saucony Kinvara Miles: 18.50Nike Free 5.0 Miles: 17.00Puma Faas 200 Miles: 7.00Adidas Adizero Miles: 10.00
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