dedication, perseverance, self-discipline

I ran to work this afternoon.  Temps were near 100 degrees.  I ran 8.6 miles in 1:04:28.

PM:  I ran to the mall from school to meet Kimia, and then drove back home from there.  I will call it 8.8 miles, as it is just slightly farther than running home.  I was really cruising during the run, and I felt good so I made no effort to slow down.  Total time of 1:01:34.

I ran 10 miles easy this morning in 1:13:27.  I ran a 200m pickup in 33s during the second half of the run to simulate goal pace for the 1600m race that I am running tonight.

PM:  I ran a free 1600m race put on by the Las Vegas Track Club.  I was hoping that Andrew (the guy who beat me at the last free race I came to) would show up so that I would have someone to drag me to a 1600m pr.  This is the first 1600m race that I have run since high school (over 9 years ago).

Luck was not on my side, and Andrew did not come to the race.  There was also a fair amount of wind on the backstretch (not horrible, but enough to slow your overall time down).  I decided that I would just start the race at a hard pace and then see how things went from there.

The gun went off, and I started off at a solid pace.  I was surprised to make it to 200m in 33 seconds, and even more surprised that another runner was right on my shoulder.  I felt good, so I was hoping this translated into a solid time for me.  I backed off a little at 200 because I did not trust in my ability to run 4:24 pace for the entire race.  Just before the 400m mark the kid went past me.  I hit 400m in 1:07 (34 sec. for the second 200m) with the kid one second ahead in 1:06.  However, as soon as we crossed the 400m mark the kid slowed down just a little, and I started to run up on him.  This really messed up the rhythm I was in as I couldn't really pass him without a major surge, due to the turn, and he was running just fast enough that I hoped I could stay behind him until we got through the backstretch where the wind was the worst.  This ended up being a bad decision for me, as we slowed down to 35 sec for the 200m from 400-600m, and I had trouble getting back in a faster rhythm for the remainder of the race.  It was like my body just locked into that pace, and it didn't feel incredibly hard, but I couldn't speed up either.  I did end up surging to pass the kid at the beginning of the next turn, so the next 200m was run in 34 sec (2:16 for 800m).  By the time I hit 800m I had a 20-30m lead on the kid, and the lead just got bigger from there to the finish.  I ran the next three 200m sections in 35 seconds each (3:26 at 1200m, and 4:01 at 1400m), and then closed in 33 seconds over the final 200m to finish in 4:34 (1:08 for the final 400m).

Overall, I was not displeased with how things turned out.  I have not really done any 1600m specific workouts, and I ran 10 miles this morning in addition to the 17.4 miles I ran Monday, and the hard tempo run last Saturday.  The time equaled my 1600m pr that I set in practice when I was running for BYU, and beat my high school pr by 4 seconds.  On top of everything it was a little windy, and while the sun was not bad the temperature was still around 100 degrees.  If you throw out the rhythm killer after the first lap I think I would have run about 2 seconds faster as well.  Considering everything I'll take the time I got, however I still do feel like there is some sort of inhibitor that is preventing me from going faster, and it is not physical.  Hopefully I can work that issue out soon, whatever the issue may be.

I ran 12 miles easy this morning in 1:27:46.  It was a good run for me.  My legs didn't seem to really feel the race last night (I guess I should expect that since the race was only 1600m).  It felt hotter than normal, even though I was out running earlier than I have been lately.  It may be that I was just expecting it to feel much cooler than it was.

PM: 5 miles in 39:02.  I went out to the store with Kimia and the kids after I got home from work, and it took more out of my legs than I would have expected, so I felt fairly tired during the run. 

I ran to UNLV this afternoon, and after getting on campus I headed over to the track and ran 2 x 1600m repeats in 5:19, and 5:17 with 1600m recovery between repeats.  

I was originally planning on running a 1600m followed by a 3200m, but despite the water I carried with me today (usually I run without water) I was still struggling a bit with the heat.  To top it off, there was a strong wind that I had to deal with almost the entire way to UNLV, and during the repeats.  So, I ended up just running 2 x 1600m instead.  The purpose of today's workout was not really to push myself hard or to test my limits, but to get a little more practice running a little faster than normal, while maintaining control (staying relaxed).

I ended up with a total of 13 miles for the workout, finishing in 1:36:36.

PM: 4 miles easy in 30:15.  Kimia picked me up partway home. 

I ran 10 miles easy this morning in 1:15:34.  On the way home I ran 3 short sprints just to get my legs moving a bit.  My left calf felt just a bit tight, probably due to the 1600m race I ran on Tuesday.  This is all the running I am doing today, as I am running a 5k race tomorrow against some tough competition, and I want to see how I stack up.

Today I ran the only real competitive annual 5k that exists in Vegas.  The winner from the previous 4 years was back again (currently runs for the University of Oklahoma), plus a kid who is a 4:10 miler was going to be there, and hopefully a couple other fast guys, so I knew that there would be a decent amount of competition.  I warmed up by running the course, and I knew that it would be super slow, as there was a fair amount of rolling terrain, and the race was mostly on sand and uneven gravel (with a bit of pavement and grass mixed in).  To give an example of how slow the course is, this is the state championship course for cross country (when the championship is held in Southern Nevada) and the course record is only 16:04 (set last year by Nick Hartle, the 4:10 miler).  To top it off, it was fairly hot outside (forecast called for 84 degrees at the start of the race, and it was probably correct), and since the race didn't start until 7:30am, the sun was already out... the sun is the real killer; I'll take 95-100 degrees in the dark over 84 in the sun any day.  On the plus side, it wasn't windy out, as I have come to find that the nasty wind that plagues Vegas during the fall, winter and spring is really fairly mild during the summer.

We all lined up on the giant start line just before 7:30 (it is a cross country race, so you have to have a giant extended line followed by a bottleneck about a 100m after the start), and after some introductions the gun went off and... I got smoked.  Jeremy Sudbury (the returning champion) put 20 seconds on me in the first mile, and was followed closely by his former high school nemesis, Solomon Bennett who was ahead of me by 17 seconds at the mile.  I came through in 5:02, and it felt like I had run a 4:45.  My legs never felt in this race, as even prior to the start I felt tired.  Less than 800m into the race I felt the way I normally do after 2 miles.  I think that the mileage from this week, and the brutal tempo run I did last Saturday just sucked the power out of my legs and I had nothing.

I ran the second mile in 5:22 (Sudbury is now gone, but the gap between me and Bennett has held fairly even).  This was the slowest mile of the race as it contained the most sand.  Nick Hartle, the 4:10 miler, had stayed in front of me for the majority of the first mile, but just prior to the mile mark I passed him and it felt like he just fell off the face of the planet as I ended up beating him by 52 seconds.  This meant that for the majority of the race I was running alone, too far behind second place to really have a chance at beating him, and far enough in front of fourth place that there was no one to push me.

I closed the final 1.1 miles in 5:12 pace to finish in 16:10.  Sudbury won the race in 15:17, with Bennett finishing in 15:40 or 15:50 (official time was 15:40, but Mike Schramm thought he saw him finish in about 15:50 which I think is more accurate, as at 15:54 on my watch he appeared to have just finished).  Hartle was fourth in 17:02.  So, all in all I don't think it was my best performance, but I decided early on in the week that putting in a solid week of mileage was more important than running well today.  As it is, I have heard that Sudbury has a sub 14:00 track 5k pr, so losing to him by 53 seconds isn't as bad as it would seem.  I think that tapered I could have finished with Bennett, or maybe beaten him, but who knows.  Bennett lives here in town, so I may start training with him soon if my schedule allows for it.

After the race I ran the course one more time as a cool-down, and a couple hours after I got home I ended up making it out to finish off my mileage for the day by running 10.5 miles more in 1:06:25.  I ran a 4 mile tempo in 100+ degree heat on the way home in 21:31 (5:26, 5:20, 5:27, 5:18).

I ran 12 miles this morning in 1:31:13.  I kept things pretty slow for the first half (47:00), and then slowly sped up during the second half.

PM:  5 more miles in 38:30. 

15 miles this morning.  I went to meet Solomon Bennett (the second place finisher from the race last Saturday) so that we could run mile repeats.  However, there was some poor communication as far as where exactly we were going to meet, and by the time I got to where Solomon was at he had already run two of the three mile repeats he was doing.  I ran the last repeat with him and the group he was with in 4:47 (it measured out to 0.96 on one kids garmin, so it was probably worth about 4:59).  I then talked with him and his coach for a bit, and as Solomon was not feeling too good (tired) he decided to just run more in the evening, and I was now alone.

I decided to run more mile repeats, but I was not too big a fan of the gravel trail the group was running them on, so I went over to the asphalt trail around Sunset park to run "mile" repeats on a section of the trail that is just a little longer than 1 mile (maybe about 1.05?).  It was windy on the trail (vs. on gravel where the trees blocked the wind), so this loop felt fairly slow.  Splits were 5:32, 5:17, 5:17 and I had recovery of 3:57, and 3:55 between repeats.  I then ran a longer recovery (2.7 miles) before running one final repeat in 5:13.  On the last repeat I focused on driving forward with my quads because I feel like either my quads are weak, or my ability to utilize the strength in them is undeveloped.  I want to find out which is the case.

PM:  5 miles in 38:55 

Easy run this morning, then drove to Long Beach for the American Society of Biomechanics national meeting, then ran 5 more miles after I got there.  I seem to have gotten some sort of stomach bug, because I have had diarrhea all day long.

The travel, stomach bug, and bad sleep has really taken it out of me.  I ran 10 miles today, skipped the second run, and cut my speed workout short.

10 miles "easy" which ended up meaning about a 6:30 average (I pushed the pace a little more than normal because I just wanted to get the run finished with, and the lack of speed work yesterday has my legs feeling peppy, yet tired at the same time from being sick).  Still feeling the effects of the constant diarrhea and resultant fatigue, as I feel that my body has not been absorbing any nutrients because everything is coming out so quickly.

Still feeling the effects of everything.  Traveling certainly hasn't helped, as I have been super busy with this conference.  Decided to not do a long run today, but still run a tempo run of sorts.  I ran 10 miles, with a 7 mile tempo where I struggled to go much faster than 6:00 pace (although I did run about 0.75 in 5:12 pace) as my legs just felt drained.  Total time of 1:01:28.

Easy run this morning, except the pace was a little quicker than normal.  Total time of 1:11:14 for 10 miles.

Somewhat disappointed with this mornings workout.  I should have gotten out of the house sooner, and by the time I left it was pretty hot outside.  I was going to run a 2 x 3 mile workout, but modified that to a 2 + 2 + 1 workout.  I ran the workout on my new long tempo course, and I can say that this course is not easy.  According to the course tool there is 120 ft of climbing per 2 mile loop.  This means that if I were to run another half marathon time trial on this loop I would have a total climb of around 750 ft (Although I would have a net drop of about 40 ft if I started at the top and ended at the bottom).

 Anyhow, I ran a warm-up followed by the first 2 mile interval in 10:59 (5:24, 5:35) running the first mile with a net down, followed by a second mile with a net up.  The mile with the net uphill was brutal, and even the mile with a net drop has a fair amount of climbing.  It also didn't help that temps were in the mid to upper 90's.  The second 2 miles started with the uphill mile, and ended with the downhill mile with a total time of 11:25 (5:41, 5:44).  I am not sure why, but I started to get a side cramp about a half mile in, and it got progressively worse throughout the interval.  I stopped at home and got some water after this interval, followed by one final mile hard in 5:40 on the downhill portion of the loop.  I just had a hard time getting my legs moving on the uphill.  On the downhill I split virtually the same time that I did earlier on the 5:24 mile (3 seconds slower), but I lost 13 seconds on the uphill.

I ended the workout with a 2 mile cool down, for a total of 13 miles in 1:30:31.

PM: 5 miles in 35:59.  I just wanted to get out of the sun, because it was still over 100 degrees when I ran the second time.

12 miles easy this morning in 1:36:41.  I was pleased that my heart rate stayed as low as it did considering the heat (mid 90's).  In the past I have been unable to keep my HR lower than 133-135 when it is this hot (even when I run really slow), but today I averaged 129 for 12 miles.

PM:  4 miles in 32:34.  I ran the first two uphill miles in 17:31, followed by a 15:03 downhill for the last two miles.

I ran a 6 x 600m workout today.  I started by warming up for 3 miles, with a stride thrown in to get my legs moving.  My goal was to run all 6 of the repeats in 1:40 or less.  Recovery was about 2:00 with a 200m jog.  The green valley cross country team was on the track today, so at first I had to deal with passing the kids, which cost me some time the first repeat when I had to swing out into lane 5 on the straightaway.  However, after the second repeat the coaches had their kids stay in lane 2, and it wasn't a problem.  Splits were 1:40, 1:40, 1:39, 1:40, 1:42, 1:40.  After the fifth repeat my legs were feeling kind of dead, and I was feeling the heat (around 90 degrees), so I ran an extra 400m easy (600m total) and stopped to get a little water before starting the final repeat.  When I account for the extra distance I ran on the first couple repeats I figure that it makes up for the 2 seconds I lost on the fifth repeat, and puts my average right at 1:40 for all of the 600's.  I am relatively pleased with this workout.  After the stinker of a workout that I ran on Tuesday it was nice to get a better workout in.

My legs felt dead after the workout was over, so I began my 6 mile cool down really slowly, hitting the 3 mile mark in 26:00 (8:40 average).  I sped up some the last 3 miles, to finish the 6 mile cool down in 48:20.

PM:  5 miles, starting off really slow (8:45ish for the first mile) and finishing in 39:51.

I met up with Solomon this morning.  We ran about 10 miles (probably a little more) in 1:07:40.  It is faster than I am used to, but my legs felt fine so I am not worried about recovery prior to running another half marathon time trial tomorrow morning.

PM:  4 miles in the evening in just under 31 minutes.  Felt good, but didn't run longer because I wanted to be done sooner so that I could get to bed early (I am getting up at 4:30am tomorrow morning) 

I ran another half marathon time trial this morning as part of my long run.  The differences between this time and last time are that I can no longer run on my loop around the mall (security didn't like it when I tried to measure the loop with a wheel and they told me that I was no longer allowed to run there anymore), so I had to come up with an alternate loop that is tougher (hillier) than the original, with the other differences being that I had a partner for the first 6 miles today and I started the time trial at 5:40 today vs. 5:05 last time (not a big difference, but the heat played more of a factor today than last time because of the slightly later start time).

Solomon met me at my house, and we ran a warm up of about 3.5 miles before starting the time trial at the back end of the loop (so that the last mile would have a net downhill instead of a net uphill).  The loop measured out to 2.01 miles on the course tool, so I figured that if I ran six and a half laps I would only need to add on about 17 seconds to finish the half marathon.  My goal going into the workout was to try and hit an average of 11:00 per lap, which would give me a finishing time of 1:11:47.  I also wanted to have an average HR of about 170 for the first half of the workout, with the plan to slowly increase my HR into the mid 170's over the final few miles.

We started the time trial, and Solomon went out pretty hard.  It felt a little too fast, but I figured that it wouldn't be a problem as long as I backed off once my HR hit 170.  The problem was that for some reason or another my HR was rising really slowly at the beginning of the tempo, so by the time I realized it we were almost done with the first loop, and we were still hitting the pace pretty hard.  We finished the first loop in 10:45 (subtract about 3 seconds per loop to get a 2 mile split), and then settled into the pace my HR was giving me to follow that up with an 11:00 split for the second loop.  Solomon started to drop back after the second loop, so I was leading and he was trailing me by a few meters for the majority of the third loop.  At the end of the third loop Solomon passed me and then pulled ahead to finish his workout a second in front of me.  I went through the third loop in 11:04 for a total time of 32:49 for 6+ miles (11 seconds ahead of goal pace, but losing time).  I was all alone for the remainder of the tempo, and despite keeping my HR in the same range I slowed down even more during the next loop coming through in 11:11 (44:00).  I think that the heat was starting to get to me a bit (temps were in the low to mid 80's, which is not too bad, but it still effects you when you are pushing the pace for a long time, plus the sun was out now and the sun here is brutal).  So, after 8+ miles I was right on pace, but I couldn't afford to lose any more time during the next two miles.  Solomon handed me a water bottle here, and I ran with the bottle for the next 1.x miles until it was empty before tossing it.  I was still losing time during this loop, but after I tossed the water bottle I started working to try and make up the time I had lost.  I went through the next loop in 11:11 again (55:11), which put me just a little behind goal pace, but I also knew that I was starting to make up time rather then lose more, so the goal time wasn't out the window yet.  My HR rose up into the high 170's, and maybe even the low 180's during the 6th loop, and I went through the 12+ mile mark in 66:05 (10:54), meaning that I only had to run a 5:25 on the final downhill mile (but still hilly) to hit my goal time.  I pushed the uphill pretty hard on this mile, and that helped me a lot, as I ran the final mile in 5:18 to hit 13+ miles in 1:11:23, followed by the final 17 seconds hard to finish up the half marathon in 1:11:40, for a finishing time that was 7 seconds faster than my goal time.

The finishing time was 2 seconds slower than the last time I ran a time trial half marathon, so it was basically the same considering that the distance is merely an estimate based on measurements from the course tool.  However, I think that this course is slower as the hills are much worse, and I didn't make things easier for myself by starting 35 minutes later in the morning.  Add to this the fact that I started out a little too aggressively at the beginning of the time trial (thus making the rest of the workout much more difficult) and I think that the result is a fair amount better than the last half marathon time trial that I ran.  Overall, I am pleased with the workout.  I plan on running at least one more time trial like this in September, and possibly in early October as I prepare for a November marathon.

I finished by running a cool down of about 4.4 miles at just under 8:00 pace to finish with 21 miles on the day. 

I ran 15 miles this morning as I won't have time to run again this evening because of FHE.  I slept in, so I ran when it was hot out (about 100 degrees).  This was planned, and I have gotten used to the heat, so it was not a big deal.  I had 3 water stops planned during the run, so I was able to stop at those on the way out and again on the way back.  I also threw in 3 surges during the run to wake up my legs a bit after the day off yesterday.  Total time for the run was 1:52:43

I ran 5 x 200m today after running a 4 mile warm up in just over 30 minutes.  I gave myself 100m recovery in 60 seconds between the first 4 repeats, and then gave myself a longer recovery before running the fifth repeat.  The goal was to simulate running an 800m in approximately 2:00, so goal pace for the 200's was 30 seconds.  My reasoning is that if I can teach myself to run comfortably at a 4:00 mile pace, then I should be able to transfer that speed to distances longer than 400m.  So, my goal was to not only run the 200's in 30 seconds, but to relax while doing so.  Times were 31s, 30s, 31s, 31s for the first 4 repeats.  I simply mispaced the first repeat, as the effort was pretty easy.  During the third and fourth repeats I hit 100m in 15.xx seconds, but would have needed to speed up just a little in order to finish under 31s.  I ended up focusing more on not putting forth too much effort, and less on staying at goal pace, so these repeats ended up being slower.

After the fourth repeat I took a longer recovery, running 500m plus walking around for a couple minutes, before running the final repeat.  The goal for the final repeat was to run all out, and see how fast I could go after running the other repeats.  On top of this, I was doing wall sits earlier in the morning to try and strengthen my quads, so my quads were not 100% from a power standpoint.  When I started the final repeat I ended up starting off too slow, because I was worried about fading over the final 50m.  At 100m I really turned it on, and at the finish I felt like I could maintain the speed I was going for at least another 100m, and possible longer.  Time for the final repeat was 29.5s.  I am not sure how much faster I could have gone if I would have just started off faster.

The strange thing about the last 200 I ran was that by the end I felt like I was moving my legs pretty quick, and I had a good turnover, but I seemed unable to really put enough force into the ground to get moving fast.  It felt like I had deactivated the fast twitch muscle fibers in my legs, from running the other 4 repeats, and I was trying to sprint using my slow twitch fibers.  Obviously this is not entirely the case, as I gave myself ample recovery for my fast twitch fibers to be ready to go, but there may be a degree of truth to the thought.  I also really felt like I was getting nothing from my quads, as normally my quads will burn when I am trying to sprint, whereas today I didn't really feel anything.  I guess ultimately that is what I want, as I am a distance runner, and the faster I can go on slow twitch fibers the higher the likelihood that I will be able to maintain that speed over longer and longer distances.

I finished by running a cool down at just under 8:00 pace to finish 11 miles for the run.

PM:  5 miles in about 39:30, running most of it on the grass barefoot. 

I ran out on the Pittman Wash this morning.  A total of 12 miles in 1:28:08.  During the run I ran a mile in 5:27 (2:50, 2:37) and later on a half mile in 2:40-41.  I was simply trying to practice running relaxed, so I wanted to speed up for a bit to try and relax while running a marathon pace effort.

PM: 5 miles in 39:48. 

I was going to do a speed session on the track, but when I woke up this morning my left calf was pretty tight so I decided to just run easy with another 1 mile pick up at marathon pace like yesterday.  I kept my average pace just slower than 8:00 per mile for the first 6.5 miles, and then ran 1 mile in 5:24-25 (2:41-42, 2:43).  I focused on relaxing again, just like yesterday.  I then finished my run for a total of 11 miles in 1:24:30.

PM:  5 miles mostly on the grass barefoot.  I sped up at the end to finish in 40:00.

I ran 11 miles this morning, running another 1 mile pickup, just like the last 2 days, finishing it in 5:17 (2:33, 2:44).  I got a little too excited at the start of my mile pickup, so I slowed down a fair amount in the second half to make sure that I got practice running more relaxed.  Total time of 1:25:05 for 11 miles.

PM:  5 miles easy. 

I ran 20 miles today.  I wanted to get out early in the morning so that I wouldn't have to deal with the heat so much, but I was slow (nothing new there) and I didn't leave until later on.  The temperature outside was 102 degrees by the time I finished my run, and it really affected me during the 4 mile tempo I ran at the end of the run, as I only ran 23:20 for 4 miles despite a net downhill and plenty of water stops during the early and middle portions of the 20 miler.  Total time for 20 miles was about 2:16:40.

I ran 15 miles this morning.  I got up at 4:40am so that I would have time to get in my run before heading off to school.  Low temperature this morning was forecast at 87 degrees, and I imagine that it was accurate.  

I ran a 3 x 2 mile workout starting 5.75 miles into the run, just trying to hit a solid marathon effort.  I ran the first repeat in 10:52 (5:25, 5:27) followed by a one mile recovery.  The second repeat was an 11:08 (5:44, 5:24).  This repeat was slower because the first mile was uphill, I had a 180 degree turn halfway through and I ran back down, whereas the first repeat had a net downhill for both miles (net downhill, but still slow because of rollers, heat, sharp turns, etc).  The last repeat was also a 10:52 (5:34, 5:18) with both miles giving me a net downhill, while dealing with a short but nasty hill in the first mile.  The effort was fairly consistent for all three repeats.  It is hard to say how fast the effort was worth in good conditions (flat, cool, etc) but I did not feel like I was ever really hammering the pace, which is good.  I finished by running home, with a total time for 15 miles of 1:43:13.

I ran to school in 1:03:11.  Total of 8.6 miles.  I started off quick at the beginning of the run, but purposefully slowed down partway through the run so that I wouldn't stress myself too much.

PM:  I ran home from school in temperatures that were in the 105-107 range.  I think this was the hottest run I have done all summer, but to be honest I think that the runs I did in about 102 degrees at 1-2pm were worse than this (5-6pm) because the sun wasn't shining as directly on me.  Total time was 1:03:13. 

I ran to school this morning, and then added on some extra mileage on the track after I got there.  During the run I did a pick up for about a mile at a slower marathon pace, as I was trying to catch up to the bus (I would have caught it too, but I got stuck at a light that the bus made it through just before I got to UNLV).  After I got to school I ran 6 x 400 on the track, with 400 recovery (average recovery just under 2:00).  Splits for the 400's were 68, 68, 68, 67-8, 67, 66.  I was pleased that I got progressively faster over the course of the workout.  The splits were not as fast as I wanted, but it was pretty windy, so that cost me a second or two on each repeat.  I finished with a total of 13 miles for the morning in a time of 1:30:26.

PM:  I ran 5 miles in 37:55.  Kimia picked me up at a park on the way home from school so that I would not get too many miles in for the day.

The month finished well for me.  I have gone over 400 miles for the first time (total of over 426 miles) and I have gotten in some solid workouts recently.  I just need to stay consistent with things, avoid injury, and get in lots of mileage at marathon pace.