dedication, perseverance, self-discipline

I got plenty of sleep last night, but I was really dragging at church today. I think it was because I was fasting. I came home and took a good nap and it made me feel better.

Surge - 348.25

Ohana racer - 229.6

Speedstar - 189.85

I had trouble sleeping last night because I took a really long nap yesterday afternoon, but I felt fine this morning, so I think that it all added up together fine and I shouldn't feel too tired later on today.  I ran with Sasha, James, Benjamin, and for a little while with Matt.  We all seemed to have VPB issues this morning as James had to go twice, I had to go twice, and Sasha is Sasha so I don't think any more explanation is needed there.  I think it is due to yesterday being Fast-Sunday.  We didn't eat anything for a day, and then we ate a bunch in the afternoon and it decided that it wanted to come out this morning.  Anyhow, we ran a little faster than normal this morning, partially due to Benjamin deciding to run a 7:03 mile during his workout and we finished the first 6 miles in 44:57.  We dropped off James and then headed out again.  We did a tug of war test with Sasha's harness and I won.  I am not really sure what it means, but I guess it doesn't really matter.  We also did a couple tests of muscle recruitment doing a bunny hop for 100 then a bound for 100, and finally a 1 leg hop for 100.  Sasha seemed to struggle more with the bunny hop.  After our turnaround, we ran into a former BYU runner who graduated in 1994 and we did a few 800 repeats with her in 3:04 (approximately), 3:16, and 3:04.  We then finished running back to Sasha's house, finishing with a total time of 1:30:04 for 12 miles.

I ran with Sasha and Tyler this morning. We went out 2.5 miles and then came back to the start of the 5 mile tempo where we said goodbye to Tyler. The goal was to see how long Sasha could hold 5:00 pace and then to finish the 5 mile tempo as fast as possible after that. We started off, but Sasha's watch didn't get started so we stopped after 100 and came back to start again. We started again and went through the first 100 in 20 seconds, so a little slow. I don't know exactly why, but I just wasn't feeling it today. I think it was primarily from a lack of sleep the last 2 nights, but I feel like there were other factors as well. Anyhow, I had trouble pacing Sasha through 5:00 pace and at 400 we were at 1:18. We followed this up with a 1:14 and a 1:16, so we were only 3 seconds back at .75 miles. Sasha then started to loose it and we went through the next 400 in 1:21 for a 5:09 mile. After this we did the next mile in 5:44 followed by a 5:38 including a turn-around. Our last 2 miles were a 5:38 and a 5:34. The last half mile I had Sasha slap my hand a couple of times as he was struggling to maintain pace and we went through the last 2 quarters in 1:23 and 1:21 for a total time of 27:43 for 5 miles. The whole workout felt odd. The 5:44 mile felt almost as hard as the 5:09, and I wasn't feeling too good later on, when an average pace in the 5:30's should have felt relatively easy for me.  After finishing we cooled down, and finished at Sasha's house for a total time of 1:31:35 for approximately 12.1 miles.  I was feeling light headed after we got to Sasha's house, so I went inside and got some water before going home.

I accidentally set my alarm clock for the wrong time, so I woke up late this morning and wasn't able to run with Sasha.  So, instead I took the opportunity to sleep late and I ran later in the morning.  I wanted to hold about 7:30 pace for the run and I sped up after putting in an 8:20 first mile and almost caught the 7:30 guy by 4 miles.  I locked into just under 7:30 pace after 4 miles and stayed there until 8.1 miles at which point I slowly started to speed up, averaging about 7:15 over the last 4 miles to finish in 1:29:40 for 12.1 miles.

I ran with Sasha and James this morning.  After three miles, James turned around and headed back.  After he turned back Sasha and I did 5x10 seconds hard with 5:00 between each repetition.  It was all out for Sasha, but less strenuous for me because my calves are still giving me grief and I didn't want to mess them up.  We added an extra 2 miles on the way back so that we could get 12 miles in.  Finished in 1:35:58 for 12.1 miles.

Sasha and I drove up to the end of the Provo River Half this morning so that Curt could show us the changes that have been made on the course so that we do not get lost tomorrow.  We ran the last few miles twice to make sure we don't mess is up and then ran up the canyon for a few miles before coming back.  We did two quarters at approximately race pace (one a bit slow, and one a bit fast) to get a feel for the pace tomorrow while coming back down the canyon.  We did them in 1:22 (5:28 pace) and 1:14 (4:56 pace).  Even the second quarter did not feel too hard due to the decline we were running down.  I may try to hit about 1:18 quarters during that stretch of the race (a little over half way through).  We finished 12 miles in 1:34:50.

There were a lot of bloggers at the race today. We took the top seven places for the men. I warmed up about 2 miles before getting on the bus, and after the ride up South Fork Canyon I ran just a little more before the start.

Mile: 1 - 4:50 - I took off and after 1/2 mile I was pretty much alone for the rest of the race. This first mile was pretty steep heading down, but the first few miles do roll a decent amount while they head down, so it is not a straight descent.

2 - 4:52 (9:42) - Pretty much the same as the first mile

3 - 5:11 (14:53) - This mile still has a net descent, but there are some uphill sections thrown in that slow it down a bit.

4 - 5:06 (19:59) - Similar to mile 3, but with more descent. Around this point I start to feel it just a little. I don't think it was a big deal, but I might have pounded it a bit too hard coming down the canyon. The pace was on target through this point, but I misjudged how much the pounding would take out of me.

5 - 5:16 (25:15) - about the first .1 heads downhill before exiting South Fork Canyon. Then, it flattens out for a bit before beginning a gradual climb for the rest of the mile. Based on my split, I probably pushed it too hard during this mile.

6 - 5:22 (30:37) - At the beginning of this mile the grade gets steeper and stays that way for about 3:00 or so. After this, it starts heading back downhill again until you hit the mile marker. I probably pushed it too hard going uphill on this mile as well.

7 - 5:02 (35:39) - Downhill almost the entire way except for a small rise as you get on the river trail. I think that this mile was about where it should have been. I also took a gu about halfway through this mile just to test it out.

10 - 16:01 (51:40) - the mile markers at miles 8 and 9 were misplaced, so I am not counting those miles, but I was timing quarter mile splits off and on, and they were almost all right around 1:20 (5:20 pace). This holds true to the 3 mile split as it is only 1 second slower than 5:20 pace. I felt like I should have been able to run these miles faster, but for some reason I just couldn't push myself any more than I was. I felt like I could hold the pace forever but could not go any faster. I think that it has something to do with pushing the pace a little too hard while going uphill earlier in the race.

13.2 - 17:15 (1:08:55) - I made it to the 11 mile mark before they got the marker out, and I don't know if they had 12 or 13 mile markers. Anyhow, I knew were the 11 mile mark was supposed to be, and based on my estimation I still held 5:20 pace for that mile. I started hurting at about 10.5 but it was fine holding the pace for the next .5. However, from 11 miles to the finish I was really hurting. Based on the time I averaged about 5:25 over the last 2.2 miles and I probably was going slower during parts of those miles as I sped up shortly before the finish. The course was a bit long, and pretty much everyone I talked to was getting readings right around 13.2 miles so I will count it at that length.  My official time was 1:07:59 and I wish that I ran that fast, but the official timing started late as I had myself much slower and everyone else did too.

Dave Holt came in second, a little over a minute behind me.  Sasha came in third, and Adam Wende came in fourth, followed by Chad, Walter, and Steve to round out the top seven sweep by the bloggers.