Second Wind

Not a bad start to a new month.  Today called for intervals.  2 X 1600 with 800 meter recovery jog in between.  Did a two mile warm up and then loaded up the Garmin with the interval workout.  Goal was to run 6:34 intervals.  First mile came in at 6:27 and felt pretty good until right at the end when my breathing started to labor a bit.  The second was a little more in line with what I was shooting for at 6:33 and I also was laboring at the end.  I seem to do okay for the first three quarters of these intervals but then I seem to go into anerobic mode and have a hard time calming my breathing.  Hopefully this will improve as Wednesdays will either be tempos or 1600 intervals for the next several weeks.  Other than sucking air, everything else felt surprisingly good today, no real aches or pains to complain about.  I think faster running really gets the endorphins kicking in and helps to manage the pain a little better.  I will probably feel it later today or during tomorrows run.  The 800 meter recovery jogs were at about an 8:15 pace which seemed very slow in relation.  I then did a 1 mile cool down.  I don't know if I can call it a cool down as it was 86 degrees this morning.

Time:  0:46:09  7:41/mile

Recovery day today and I actually felt pretty good considering yesterdays small speed workout.  The part that didn't feel so good was the 89 degrees, high humidity and drizzling rain through most of the run.  Actually the rain was okay but the heat was a killer.  I always seem to forget each year just how hot it really does get during the summer runs but I remember now.  The plan that I am using as a guide for my training calls for rest or XT on Fridays so I think I will cut my Friday runs down to 5 miles and try to fit in some extra core work and weight training on that day, maybe I'll just get some extra sleep.

Time:  57:46  8:15/mile

Went to the YMCA today because I slept in due to the holliday.  Mixed it up a little on the treadmill with some incline and speed changes.  Overall the run went well and then I did a little lifting for legs afterward.  I'll probably pay for all the lifting during tomorrows long run.

40:43  8:09/mile

I think this is only my second run of this distance this year.  It is also my longest distance run/s of the year.  I got up extra early today to try and beat some of the heat and it was actually slightly cooler than it has been lately, 81 degrees at 4:30.  Ran a couple laps around my neighborhood and then ran a couple of my big 6 mile laps that include the freeway overpass hill.  Once the sun came up it really got warm and by the end of the run the wheels were starting to fall off.  The temp at the end was 93 degrees....nasty.  I added in a couple of marathon pace miles during the run and they were pretty hard.  I really need to build up some endurance over the next several weeks or I am going to fade bad at the end of SGM.

Time:  2:11:35  8:13/mile

Rest.

Actually felt cool out this morning with the temp at 77 degrees.  Very nice this morning!  First mile today was a little ragged but then I slowly started to warm up and find a nice pace in the low 8's.  Just did the usual neighborhood loops this morning.  The first loop was with Meg and then I had to make a detour for a pit stop and we finished our miles sperately after that.  It will be nice to get out of the heat at the end of this week at my family reunion in Duck Creek.  I don't think my scheduled 18 mile long run is going to happen up there this weekend but you never know.  May have to break out some of the long sleeved shirts for running up there.

Time:  57:20  8:11/mile

After the first somewhat clunky and slow first mile I felt pretty good today.  For whatever reason the legs still feel a bit tired and sore.  I don't know if I just recover slower than most from the long run or if I am really out of shape as far as the long run is concerned.  Even with the soreness and fatigue I felt better than yesterday and picked up the pace a little bit, but not too much.  Didn't want to overdo it with the tempo run coming up tomorrow.

Time:  56:36  8:05/mile

Wednesday means speed or tempo and today was a tempo run day.  Plan called for 7 miles with 5 at tempo pace of 7:05/mile.  As usual I was a little worried about getting through this workout.  Here are the splits:  8:20, 7:01, 6:56, 7:01, 6:57, 7:01, 7:52.  As you can see I survived but it wasn't easy.  I made some discoveries during this run that will hopefully help me to improve.  I found that when my mind started to wander and think about the pain, I would lose concentration and my turnover seemed to slow down.  If I got my mind focused back on keeping the leg turn over quick then I was able to increase my speed with out additional effort.  I really tried to concentrate on my form today and keep my mind off the pain and it really seemed to help.  Felt pretty tired by the end, but as usual, I felt really good as well, speed work does that to ya.

Time:  51:11  7:19/mile

Actaully felt really good today considering the tough tempo run yesterday.  Legs felt strong and most of the usual aches were causing less pain than normal.  Got out early and got the run done before the sun was all the way up, plus there was a light breeze to keep the 83 degree temps from feeling worse than it already did.  Spent a little more time today working on form and turnover and that is probably the reason for the faster pace today although it didn't seem all that fast.  The way I see it, I better take what I can get when I am feeling good and today was one of those days so I took it.

Time:  56:23  8:03/mile

Fairly easy run in high altitude today.  Went camping with family up to Duck Creek near Cedar City for our annual family reunion.  I'm always a little leary of running up here because of the altitude, trail/dirt road running and eating like a pig with all the good junk food around.  Meg and I decided to go for our usual run out of the campground, across the street and up the old dirt road toward cascade falls.  I'm not a big fan of running on dirt roads but it sure beats running down the highway with all the big rigs and tourists flying by.  The elevation of the campgound is just over 8500 feet and the first two miles of this run is a pretty tough climb of about 400 feet.  We took it as easy as you can on a climb like this and just enjoyed the beautiful morning and cool air.  Had a great time at the family reunion and even managed to catch a few fish that evening at Navajo Lake.

Time:  46:46  9:21/mile

At the beginning of this run I didn't know weather I would be able to go the full 18 miles or if I would chicken out and cut the run short due to all the factors mentioned yesterday like elevation, terrain and junk food.  Meg and I started out together again for the first several miles of this run.  We ran out to the place (the crossroads) where we turned around yesterday for our 5 mile run and I left some water and gatorade.  Then we continued all the way to the cascade falls parking lot which is 4 miles.  Then  we turned around and came back to the crossroads and took the road that leads up over the hill to Navajo Lake.  We went about a mile up the hill toward the lake and about 300 feet of climbing at which point Meg decided to turn around so she could end up with 10 miles for the day.  I continued up the hill to the road that runs along Navajo Lake.  When I reached the road I was at 7 miles and over 9100 feet elevation.  I ran along the lake for two miles and the views were simply stunning.  The lake was literally a sheet of glass and the reflections in the water of the surrounding mountains were amazing.  When I reached the campground near the end of the lake I turned around and headed back to the hill I had just climbed.  At this point I was at 11 miles and I figured 7 more miles wouldn't be too bad.  I took the long knee-jarring journey back to the crossroads again where I refuled on water and gatorade and decided to head back to cascade falls and then I would run back to camp which would put me right at 18 miles.  The journey back to cascade falls was 100% in the sun and a headwind the whole way.  Luckily there was very little traffic so I didn't have to eat much dust but is was hot.  It got even hotter after leaving the falls parking lot because now the wind was at my back.  I was grateful when I finally reached the crossraods again and took my last drinks and headed the 2.5 miles back to camp.  It was all downhill until the last half mile where the road goes up into the campground.  When I arrived Meg had a plate of sweet breakfast waiting for me and I was able to just chill for most of the rest of the day.  I can't think of a better ending to a long hard run than just lounging around for most of the rest of the day in the mountains where it is cool and refreshing.  Luckily we did do some hiking later that morning which helped with the recovery from the run.  I was afraid with all the climbing and downhill running that I might hurt something, but so far I feel really good.  We'll see how it goes on Monday.

Time:  2:47:48  9:19/mile

Rest.

Back to reality.  Nothing like going from morning temps in the high 40s to morning temps in the mid 80s.  It was 83 this morning when I went out for my run and it was a far cry from the beautiful weather of the last few days in high mountains of Southern Utah.  I was grateful to be back at 2,300 feet elevation which made it much easier to breath this morning.  I felt really good this morning.  I'm glad to report that I suffered no ill effects from running up at the family reunion.  In fact I felt so good this morning that I added a couple of miles under 7:50/mile which is my new threshhold for determining fast or slow miles.  I thought I would feel a lot worse after the tough runs on Friday and Saturday but was very surprised this morning with how good everything felt.  So now it's back to the reality of two and half months til SGM and we're right in the middle of a very hot summer that is threatening to only get hotter in the coming weeks.

Time:  55:52  7:59/mile

Felt good again today, I hope this continues.  Wanted to back off the pace a little bit today from yesterday because I will have a fast run tomorrow and I don't need multiple days in a row with hard running.  I did finish todays run with a slightly faster mile at 7:40.  I hope these runs that I finish with a bit of a push will help me in the marathon when it's time to push at the finish.

Time:  56:55  8:08/mile

"Smart Coach" called for a 6 mile tempo run at a 7:09 pace.  Secretly I wanted to run at about a 7:00 pace, or at least match my splits from last weeks run.  I think I came pretty close to doing both.  Here are the splits:  8:20, 6:58, 7:00, 6:58, 6:58, 6:59, 7:00, 7:47.  Same story as last week, if I lost concentration and started messing with my watch or letting my mind wander my turn over and pace would slow.  As soon as I would re-focus I was right back on track.  I was pretty beat after this run but I know the tempo run is where it's at for strong marathon training so I was glad to make another deposit into the training bank.

Time:  58:04  7:16/mile

6 miles easy with a faster finish today.  Friend/co-worker and I had a bit of a dare last night and we ended up shaving our heads.  We are now sitting at work, me with a Napoleon Dynamite wig on and him with some wickedly funky wig on waiting for our co-workers to question what the heck we are doing.  Should make for an interesting day.  I sure do need to get out in the sun and tan up my stark white scalp.....yowza!  Had some slight knee pain on the outside of my left knee today that went away after a couple of miles.  I will keep a close eye on that for the next few runs so it hopefully doesn't have a chance to get out of hand.

Time:  56:52  8:07/mile

It's under way!!

What the heck did I just do!!

Well.....live and learn!!

And here we are......oh boy....

The famous wigs!

Nice easy recovery run today although it really didn't feel all that easy.  I think yesterdays starving and then pigging out in the afternoon left my body a bit confused and feeling icky today.  Yesterday was the weigh out for our weight loss challenge at work so after my run yesterday I didn't eat anything until after our weigh out at 1:15 in the afternoon.  I did drink water but not much.  I ended up losing close to 13 lbs. over the 3 month contest which puts me just under 170.  After we did our weigh out we went to lunch and I drank about 60 ozs. of rasberry lemonade, ate a bag of chips and and big ole greasy sandwich.  That night I went home and ate a bunch of frozen yogurt with the family.  I think I was a bit dehydrated yesterday as a result of these antics so all of that adds up to feeling crudy on a 5 mile run.  I am gonna get seriously hydrated today so I don't have as many problems during the big nasty tomorrow.  It's supposed to be super hot tomorrow too, should be an experience to remember.

Time:  41:05  8:13/mile

Big nasty number 1....Done!  Thank goodness!  Meg and I got up at 3:30 and were on the road by 4:00 this morning just to beat the heat.  I think our efforts to beat the heat are in vain because all we can really do is beat the really bad heat.  It's still hot as heck at 4:00 in the morning.  With an excessive heat warning in effect for most of this weekend I knew it was going to be a warm run.  The temp at the start, in the dark, was 87 degrees.  Things went well for the first 10-12 miles and then the sun came up and the heat was on.  At 14 miles I had made my way back to my neighborhood and bumped into Meg where I tried to talk to her as long as I could so I wouldn't have to keep running.  She was struggling with the heat as well, it was pretty rough.  The last six miles I imagine the temperature was at or above 90 and the wheels were starting to fall off.  At mile 17 I am embarrased to say I actaully sat down for a minute or so and didn't want to get up.  I eventually did get up and trudged in the last 3 miles at about an 8:30 pace.  I really wanted to average 8:15/mile today but pretty much lost it in the last 5 miles.

Time:  2:46:21  8:19/mile

Rest.

Felt surprisingly good this morning.  I guess I should have expected this after wimping out on my 20 miler on Saturday.  This week is a bit of a recovery week, no tempos, no speed, no long run, just plain ordinary easy miles.  The smart coach plan from runner's world calls for increased weekday mileage at a slightly faster pace.  It's now calling my easy miles 8:11/mile.  I don't know that I agree with that but I will go with it for now.  I'm not saying 8:11 is all that hard but I don't know that I consider it easy either.  I notice that the plan increases the speed of my easy miles from 8:11 to 8:01 in about 4 weeks and 7:51 in the 4 weeks before the marathon.  Does anyone have any thoughts on that?  I guess I can go with it until my body says no way, I've never used a plan where it tells me the paces to run but maybe that is what I need to get my lazy behind in gear.  I imagine the increase pace is to help with making marathon pace feel more comfortable and to help increase my turnover and overall speed.  Again, any thoughts on the matter would be appreciated.

Time:  1:04:35  8:04/mile

Stayed up way to late and woke up way late.  Was still able to squeak in an 8 mile run this morning and make it to work on time.  Temps were actaully cooler this morning with the rain during the night but man was it humid.  It was probably about 77 and 50-60% humidity.  Funny how 77 actaully feels cool.  Reminded me a bit of the weather in California.  Run didn't feel as good as yesterday but still feeling pretty good at the faster pace.  About 8:00 last night my daughter fell off our bed and broke her finger.  I guess it's a pretty bad break according to the ER doc who had to set her finger for her last night.  We have to go see a childrens bone specialist in the next day or so to determine weather she needs a pin or if a cast will be sufficient.  Yes, this is the same daughter who was having all the stomach and digestive issues at the beginning of the year that were never really diagnosed.  Ahhhh the joys of life.

Time:  1:05:15  8:09/mile

Another day of the same today.  Temps were back up today around 85 but yesterdays break from the heat was nice.  Actually got a good nights sleep and got up on time today and had time to get in a much needed yoga session that I missed yesterday.  Everything always feels better after a good stretch.  First warm up mile was slow today but everything after that was faster and felt pretty good.  I get to go to the IRS for and audit today.  Guess what they want to look at.......my charitable donations, surprise surprise.

Time:  1:04:42  8:05/mile

Another day another 8.  Nothing too exciting except a dog that kinda scared me.  This golden retriever is usually locked up in the backyard but today the owner was letting him run around the front yard.  Didn't see the owner at first so I a bit worried when the dog appeared to coming for me.  Luckily he stayed in the front yard and I was able to carry on with my run.  Not a big fan of owners who let there dogs run loose as many of you know.  My left leg between my hip and knee is bothering me a bit the last couple of runs.  I don't know if that's the IT band or if this is somehow related to my lower back issues.  Whatever it is, it seems to warm up and feel okay but I will use caution for the next few days and probably slow the pace to more of an easy recovery pace.  Ended the run today with a mile just faster than marathon pace and it felt a little hard.

Time:  1:04:23  8:03/mile

Super slow and easy miles today.  Was able to run a couple of miles with Meg which was nice.  Lower back and leg are still giving me fits even with the slow pace today.  Much to my disappointment I started on a little ibuprofen regemin for the next few days to see if I can't reduce some of the pain and inflamation in the area.  It is the first time this year that I have taken any form of medicine for pain.  Luckily this is a cut back week so I only have a 7 mile run tomorrow which will give me the rest of the weekend to try and heal up before getting back at it on Monday.

Happy pioneer day all you Utah runners.  I can't wait to read all reports from the DNews races.

Time:  43:33  8:43/mile

It was kinda nice to know I didn't have a long run looming today.  Since this is a cut back week for me it turns out that this was a fairly easy week.  Except for the lower back pain which has caused me some greef this has been a pretty good week.  This morning our stake had a pioneer day 5K and since I have been hurting a little bit I was not going to race but I decided to pace my son for the entire race and try to push him.  He has been running with the cross country team for about the last month and has improved significantly.  When he ran this race a few months ago on memorial day I think he finished in like 29 minutes without me pacing him and with very little or no training.  Today he and I ran it in about 24:30 and were able to push the last mile up to about the 7:30 range.  I was proud of him for digging in the last mile and really pushing to the finish.  I did get some new shoes yesterday and they were great to run in, new shoes are always so comfortable.  I also finally invested in an inversion table to see if it will help with my lower back issues.  I'm not looking for a miracle, just some relief, especially during the next couple of months of extremely hard training.  The back felt much better today than the last couple of days but I'm sure that is because I am all hopped up on heavy drugs......800mg of IB.  I will take the drugs for the rest of this weekend and then see how it goes on Monday when training takes another step in the really hard direction.

Time:  1:04:32  8:04/mile

Rest.

Time for the weekday miles to take another step up.  After the cut back week last week things start to get serious again with the training.  Did several sessions on the inversion table over the weekend and took my last dose of IB last night with dinner.  The back is not 100% yet but it is feeling better.  No verdict yet on the inversion therapy.  I imagine it will take a couple of weeks for me to decide if it's working or not.  Another hot day today but not as humid as it was over the weekend.  Starting temp this morning was 88 with out much of a breeze at all.  The weekly mileage goes through the roof for the next 7 weeks until the taper, I hope my body holds together during this time.

Time:  1:13:26  8:10/mile

Another hot one today with a nice warm breeze to go along with 88 degree temps.  Started out easy for the first mile and slowly worked in to a 8:00ish pace.  Lower back is still an issue but really does seem to warm up and ease by about mile 4-5.  Passed Meg and Michael once during the run.  Michael is struggling with shin splints right now, the worst thing about starting runners.  It took me about a year to get past the shin splints and I have never looked back since.  I hope he sticks with it long enough to get past this initial pain without pushing it too far.  Nothing else exciting today just the uneventful 9, the usual 15 minutes of yoga and 5 minutes inverted while watching the opening segment of the today show wondering why our president has such a hard time appologizing for the stupid things he says....I guess you just can't teach humility.

Time:  1:12:41  8:05/mile

Tough workout today.  Did a fairly easy warm up of three miles at 8:15/mile and then set-up the Garmin for 1 mile intervals with half mile rests.  Plan called for 3x1 mile intervals at 6:26/mile pace.  Here are the splits:  6:25, 4:16, 6:23, 4:14, 6:20, 4:13.  In all fairness I had a couple of minutes of extra rest before that last interval because I hit the lap button on my gamin by accident and had to do some messing around to get it back to interval mode for the last interval.  One thing I noticed is that I do pretty good with each of the intervals until I get to the last quarter mile or so at which point my breathing changes to a much faster rhythm and I really start to struggle.  I try to stay relaxed as best I can but the breathing is hard to control.  The legs really started to get fatigued by the end of the 2nd  interval and I was wishing I only had to do two.  The back was no better or worse today but it did seem to feel better, or wasn't as noticable, during the faster miles.

Time:  1:00:52  7:36/mile

Power went out at the house last night from about 11:30 to 2:00 a.m. so I didn't get much sleep cause when the power is out the house is silent and you hear every little sound.  Plus when the power is out in the desert the inside of the house gets really warm.  Surprisingly I was able to get up at my regular time and get out the door.  Legs were a little weak from yesterdays tough run but for the most part they felt okay.  The lower back issue was a little worse today, probably due to yesterdays fast miles, but I was able to run through it as it seems to warm up with miles.  Kept the first 8 miles at the regular moderate pace and then picked it up to just faster than BQ pace for the last mile, felt pretty good.

Time:  1:12:12  8:01/mile

Nice and easy today.  Slept a little extra and took the usual easy day on Friday.  Nothing exciting today, just easy miles and slightly cooler temps.  Today caps off my highest mileage month ever but only by .9 miles.   I had my previous high mileage month in November last year preping for Las Vegas.  Feel pretty good about the month except for this last week of nagging back ache.  Hopefully things will improve on that front and I can continue to get in some good training.

Time:  0:42:02  8:24/mile