Second Wind

Rest.

My quads were a little bit sore this morning for some reason. I suppose it probably has something to do with running on the treadmill on Saturday. It wasn't a really bad soreness so I was able to run without much problem. I am planning to taper off later this week with some lower mileage runs on Thursday and Friday and then hopefully be ready for a PR effort on Saturday at Hurricane. I think a PR on that course would be pretty difficult but I think I am going to give it a shot and see how it goes. I have only run the course once but I have driven it countless times going up to Zion National Park. The race is generally down hill but there are some rollers throughout the first several miles and a nice little incline in the last mile or so. But there is also a really steep down hill section around mile 7-8 for about a mile which should be pretty fast. A PR would be my super happy goal and something better than Painter's would be good as well.

Time: 49:04 8:11/mile

Another moderate pace 6 today.  It was fairly windy coming out of the South today.  the longest stretch of my run goes from north to south so I spent a good portion of the run going into the wind.  I am still feeling a little soreness in my quads today which is surprising because I don't usually feel much soreness there.  It probably won't help that I have the walk race after work today either.  That race seems to work muscles I didn't even know I had.  My biggest priority starting after todays run is to get some high quality recovery and hopefully get some of the soreness out of my legs before Saturday.  I finally put away all my winter running stuff last night so hopefully it doesn't cool off again.  The weather has been warmer than normal this winter but it has really fluctuated between warm and cold days a lot more that seems normal. 

Went and watched the end of a high school track meet last night because some kids in my ward are on the team.  It was kinda fun remembering back to what it was like to run track in high school.  I wish they held the meets later in the day so I could go watch more often.

Time:  48:41  8:07/mile

I just noticed my year to date mileage total........holy crap!

Okay, the walk race distance gets my annual mileage total off of 666.66.....thank goodness. 

Corporate Challenge Walk Race Report

It has become a Southwest Gas tradition that our walk race team will bring home the gold medal every year.  This year was no exception as we clobbered the competition.  Our overall team score was more than double that of the second place team.  Our team received 7 gold 7 silver and 3 bronze medals.  We really had a good turnout this year and really put together a good team.

Walking fast is not the easiest thing to do.  If you ever have any doubt just go out and walk a couple of miles as fast as you can and then see how your hips, butt and shins are feeling over the next few days.....not good.  You literally work muscles you didn't even know you had.  Luckily I was able to get in a couple of good practice sessions before this years event so I was past the soreness and hopefully won't feel much of the effects of todays race.

The race takes place out at Las Vegas Motor Speedway near Nellis Air Force Base and they have us walk on realtively small gran prix style track.  There are judges throughout the course who decide weather you are violating the rules and if three judges note your number then you are disqualified.  Needless to say, you make extra sure you are walking as you pass the judges.  Well there were no DQ's today on the Southwest Gas team so life was good.

Our team usually arrives early enough to secure a place at the front of the starting line so we don't have to fight our way through traffic.  We always have the strongest walkers so it's a fair strategy I think (9 of the top 20 were from Southwest Gas).  So our team bolted out to a fast start and it was our rabbit who wins the overall every year, our old guy who walks every day and really uses his hips and then me until I got passed by a couple of other walkers that I just couldn't latch on to.  Luckily only one of them was in our division so I ended up in 4th and not 5th.  As far as the race details go, it was windy and hot and a lot of hard work.  I didn't really have anyone near me for most of the race so I was out there chugging along all by myself.  Near the finish I could hear someone breathing down my neck trying to pass me but I was able to hold him off until the finish, but just barely.....fun stuff.  After that we hung out, cheered on the rest of the team and then collected our hardware.  Collecting some hardware always makes the effort worth while.

Nice and easy 6 today.  Not feeling too much pain after the walk race, hopefully it doesn't get worse tomorrow like it sometimes does.  Just looking for a complete recovery over the next few days in preparation for Saturday.  Nothing too exciting today, just a nice easy run.

Time:  51:43  8:37/mile

Today was the start of winding it down for Saturday.  I did put in one more fast mile just because I haven't really run any fast miles this week.  The pace for that mile was my goal pace for the half marathon which is 7:10/mile.  That mile felt pretty good but then again, it was only one mile.  I am feeling a bit more stiffness and soreness in my glutes, hamstrings and calfs today due to the walk race.  Usually the second day after the event is the worst for me and hopefully by tomorrow morning it will be gone.  At least the soreness isn't as bad as it was in years past and once I got warmed up today it really didn't hinder my running.  I'll just keep chowing on some protien between now and the race and I should be all healed up.  I've been getting some extra sleep the past couple of day, waking up a little later than usual, hoping that the extra rest will help as well.  Tomorrow I will do a short little three mile run and then head up to St. George in the late afternoon.  I'm barely sending in my St. George marathon application today, I hope it gets there by Monday.

Time:  39:17  7:51/mile

While last month was my highest mileage month this year, April has turned out to be my lowest mileage month.  I guess that is to be expected with the several races I had and the mini tapering I did before them.  I am ahead of last years cummulative total by about 50 miles so I guess that is a good thing.  No real injuries yet this year and that is definitely a good thing.

Final shake out run before the big show tomorrow.  Nothing new or different, as usual, just a short, moderate paced run.  Looks like we could be in for a rainy run.  There is a 50% chance of showers and winds out of the southwest at 10-20 mph, ode to joy!  Well maybe there will be a drastic change between now and then cause I don't think my Garmin could handle another monsoon like SGM.  Well, I'll hope for the best and maybe we'll catch a lull in the storm before the race and it will be perfect, hey I can hope can't I!  Most of the soreness in my legs is gone but I am still feeling it in couple of spots, especially in my shins.  It seems like walking really does a number on my weak shin muscles.  Walked a mile or so with Meg today, it was nice to go out and visit with her just like old times.  She is still heavily involved in PT and rehab and is still in quite a bit of pain so I don't imagine she will be running any time soon.  She's been really diligent about hitting the recumbant bike at the YMCA every day though, so hopefully she will be able to come back with a fair amount of fitness when the time is right.

Time:  24:47  8:16/mile

Finished short of my PR but still a good race.  More later.

Let me just start off by saying DANGIT!  I am such a wimp!  I missed third place in my age group by 12 seconds.  The guys were right in front of me.  It's sad that I go back and kick myself for not passing those last two guys, I should have just sucked it up, passed them, and won the prize.....oh well, whatcha gunna do.

Drove up to St. George Friday evening and stayed at my parents house.  Got a great nights sleep and felt really good in the morning.  The weather for this race turned out to be almost perfect.  The rain never came but it was overcast the entire way.  The temperature was perfect.  The only bad part was the headwind we faced for several miles.

The course was a bit tougher than I had remembered with approxamately 3 miles worth of some pretty good hills.  There are a couple of miles with really fast down hill running but it just wasn't enough to make up for the headwind and the uphill parts.  Here are the splits, see if you can tell where the hills are:  7:18, 7:05, 7:17, 7:34, 7:26, 7:39, 7:45, 7:05, 6:37, 6:46, 7:38, 8:08, 7:11, :40.  In case any of you are adding the time, the splits don't equal the total race time.  My Garmin said 12.95 when I finished, so I finished the final .15 around the track at the high school.  Talk about OCD!  Miles 4-6 are a pretty steady climb, you jump off a cliff for a couple miles after that, you climb some more for miles 11 and 12 and then 13 is a flat foot race to the finish.

I ran with my same friend that I ran with from the Painter's half marathon and another one of his friends, Don Vines.  We stayed together for a while then we dropped my first friend who just didn't have it today and then his friend dropped me on the down hill section and never looked back.  He ended up beating me by about 2 minutes.

I had a hard time fighting off the demon's during miles 11 and 12.  My legs had just been turned to mush on the cliff and I just couldn't seem to get into a good rhythm.  It didn't help that we went from steep down hill to steady uphill, but I still should have been able to run some quicker miles.  I finally found a good rythm at about mile 12 when it flattened out and I knew I only had a mile to go.  I knew there were people behind me not to far back cause we had changed positions a few times in the race, but I didn't even look back, I just put my head down and gave it everything else I had in the tank.  I was pretty well gassed at the end of this run and don't know that I could have run it any better.  That's a good feeling.

In case you were wondering, I did sing "Rock You Like a Hurricane" several times during this race.  Thanks for reminding me Teena.  I wish I would have had the real version of the song for the last 5K of this race.

Overall I am pleased with the race and my time.  It is a course PR for me by 11 minutes from the race I did in 2007 and finished with Meg.  Meg walked the 5K today and finished dead last.  She could have easily walked faster and finished higher but she chose to hang back with some older ladies who needed her encouragement to get to the finish line.  She said it was a bit depressing to finish the 5K in last place but I call it a huge and very cool life experience.  How often does anyone get the chance to finish last in a race.  I checked the results for her age group and overall.  On a healthy day she would have won her age group and the overall 5K easily.  To me that last place finish is that much more significant.