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Mountain to Fountain 15K

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Location:

SLC,UT,

Member Since:

Apr 28, 2011

Gender:

Male

Goal Type:

Other

Running Accomplishments:

PR Table and Notable Races

Marathon:
2:21:12 (Chicago); 2:20:41 (CIM)

Half Marathon: 1:05:45 (Long Beach)
10K: 30:03 (Portland)

All race results:
2011 - 2012 - 2013 - 2014 - 2015 - 2016

Personal:

   

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Running MilesSwimming YardsBike Miles
581.200.000.00
Running MilesSwimming YardsBike Miles
19.000.000.00

AM - 11.5 miles. My streak of not exercising indoors for the past decade had ended... winter decided to finally make an appearance on a day that I had mile repeats on the calendar. Normally I would be flexible w/ the workout schedule, but I needed to get this one in at least 9-10 days before the 15K. So I drove out to the Olympic Oval this morning. It was my first time there - quite a facility! I justified running in the perfect indoor conditions as good training for racing in perfect conditions in Arizona next weekend.

Workout was 6 x 1600m in 4:56. Reps - 4:56.5, 4:56.4, 4:55.7, 4:56.2, 4:55.9, 4:56.2. Nice and consistent. Kept the recovery to ~1:50 of walking/light jogging. Felt like I could have done 8 reps, but pulled the plug at 6 because I don't think I am completely recovered from Tuesday yet and wanted to play it a little conservative.

The cooldown was the best part of the morning. An older guy decked out in Hansons-Brooks Distance Project gear started talking to me - turns out he is 63 years old and trying to break 3 hours for the marathon in Madrid this spring. First off - who wears Hanson's gear like regular people wear NFL/NBA team gear? Answer = people I get along with very well! :-) We ran about 3 miles together chatting about all things running.

Then it took me over an hour to drive up to work from the oval. Fun. 

PM - 7.5 miles really easy.  

Groupon deal today for hot springs up near Logan - we can all head here after the TOU 1/2 marathon this summer!

Comments(16)
Running MilesSwimming YardsBike Miles
18.600.000.00

AM - 10 miles up to work. Slippery, snowy, and slowly (like 8:30 pace). Went to see Radical Reels last night - watch the first couple minutes of this trailer if you want to get fired up for the weekend. It was really cool - as always, the rock climbers have the best stories... those guys are such characters. And I was blown away by the mountain bikers. The only downside of the evening was that I didn't get to bed until 11pm - 2.5 hours past my bedtime! And I got rear-ended by some idiot on the drive home in the snow, but luckily my thule bike rack totally protected my jeep.

PM - 8.6 miles home.  

Update on the LR plan for tomorrow - I'm thinking rather than the shuttle run, lets just meet at SHP / Highland High School and do it as an out & back. Its about 10 miles up to the hairpin turn in the canyon from there. That way if road conditions are bad, we can easily change course, and if they are great, then we've completely earned all that sweet downhill coming back down. 8AM - there will probably be folks running different paces. 

Comments(6)
Running MilesSwimming YardsBike Miles
25.000.000.00

AM - 21.5 miles. Emigration Canyon long run. A group of us met at SHP and ran up to the canyon via 17th/19th and Sunnyside. I ran with MarkP and Chad on the way up. Both of the ran very strong - Mark turned at the firehouse, and Chad get pushing all the way up to the hairpin turn. He kept the pace really honest and I was impressed by how he ran this morning. 

When we hit the hairpin it was time for some downhill tempo. The whole point of this was to do some climbing and then beat up the quads a bit on the way back down. Tempo was 15K in 48:18 (5:11 / mile average). Its seems fast but it really isn't - its a lot of downhill. I'll call these MP miles but aerobically they aren't really even that challenging. Thank goodness for Garmin speed checks or else I would have probably run that too fast. I hit the 15K mark back near SHP and then ran back home from there at a relaxed pace. 

I'm icing down my legs as I type out this entry, and in a little while Andrea and I are headed up to Zermatt in Midway for the rest of the weekend. I plan to soak in hot tubs as much as possible over the next 36 hours!

Forgot to mention this earlier, but there was a dead bobcat on the side of the road about a mile up the canyon. Kinda cool to actually see a bobcat, but really sad that it got hit by a car.

PM - 3.5 miles easy along the golf course at Wasatch Mountain State Park during a break from hot tubbing and eating. 

Comments(21)
Running MilesSwimming YardsBike Miles
14.700.000.00

AM - 8.7 miles. Andrea and I ran an easy paced loop around Midway. Really nice run in the sunshine. Midway is such a cool little town - my kind of place. During the post-run hot tubbing, Andrea challenged me to attempt Rob's hot tub / snow angel challenge (see below).

PM - 6 miles. Horsepark loop w/ some extra laps on the squishy grass. What a gorgeous day - has spring sprung?

We went snow tubing at Solider Hollow during the afternoon. Fun day in the sunshine! I put up some photos on the wasatch and beyond blog. Most of our discussions this weekend revolved around how we need to convince some rich people who have one of those big unused homes in Park City to let us live there on the weekends during the summer.

Before... 

 

And after Rob's double dog triple dare challenge was put on the table...

Good hot/cold treatment.

Comments(4)
Running MilesSwimming YardsBike Miles
19.000.000.00

AM - 7.5 miles. Just an easy 60 minutes with lots of loops on the grass at the horse park.

PM - 11.5 miles. Wanted to get in some MP miles today. My left calf/achilles has been feeling a little weird since the canyon run on Saturday (Chad noticed the same problem), so I played it safe and stayed on a flat surface with no camber - the track. Warmed up 1.5 miles then got down to business:

10K in 32:53 (5:17 / mile average) - 5:19, 5:18, 5:18, 5:16, 5:15, 5:13, 1:14

...600m jog recovery... 

5K in 16:16 (5:14 / mile average) - 5:14, 5:16, 5:11, :36

Andrea was at the track too, and she jumped in and out and did some 200s along with me. It was so awesome to see her running fast again - she looked strong and smooth. It won't be long before she is kicking butt again. 

In the past 10 days I've had a great string of workouts, starting with the SLC 15K to today. Now I'm not doing too much harder running other than a neuromuscular tuneup workout on Wed or Thur later this week. Looking forward to racing on Sunday because I think I'm ready to pop a fast one.

Oh, and 65 degrees today? Seriously awesome. 4 days ago I had to move my workout to the indoor track, and today I was running shirtless and in my shortest-shorty-shorts. Love it! 

Comments(3)
Running MilesSwimming YardsBike Miles
15.000.000.00

AM - 7.5 miles, easy jogging. Went out solo for the first 15 minutes, then looped back and picked up Andrea for the rest of the run, shedding all my layers at that point b/c it was so warm out. I'm not running back and forth to work this week, even on my recovery days, b/c I'm trying to play it super cautious w/ my left calf... today it feels OK, but if anything is going to aggrevate the leg, its running up & down that giant hill.

PM - 7.5 miles on the grass, running loops around SHP in the wind/snow/rain. My hands froze! Character building run - good to get one of these every once in a while :-) But I will say that after that, I'm looking forward to 80 degrees in AZ this weekend! 

Speaking of playing it safe - I have 2 Snowbird lift tickets (Tram & Chairs) that include a free lunch on the mountain. I'll sell them to anyone here heavily discounted. They expire on April 16th, and I'm not skiing before Boston, and Andrea is going to Brazil. E-Mail / PM me if you are interested. I promise this is not a scam! :-) 

Comments(14)
Running MilesSwimming YardsBike Miles
16.400.000.00

AM - 8.6 miles, most of it w/ Andrea. We got a few laps of first tracks on the snow covered grass in the horsepark. A nice run on a brisk morning with the north wind.

PM - 7.8 miles. Started with Andrea and then back over to the horsepark for more loops on the gravel/grass. Legs are getting antsy to go faster again... 

Here's the press release for Sunday's race. Stacked fields! I also did an interview recently for the Hungry Runner Girl website. Here's the full Q&A. Nothing necessarily new, just running and ice cream talk.

Comments(9)
Running MilesSwimming YardsBike Miles
15.500.000.00

AM - 7 miles, horsepark loop w/ extra loops around the park. I've done this run a lot this week!

PM - 8.5 miles. Warmed up 2 miles, then did a tune-up workout on the track - 1600m, 4 x 200m, 1600m, 4 x 200m, 1600m. Rest was 400m after the 1600s, and 200m after the 200s.

Splits were 4:54, 33.2 average for the 200s, 4:53, 33.2 average again, 4:50

Cooled down a mile w/ Andrea. She looked good once again running her 200s. I am trying to convince her to run some collegiate 1500m races this spring.

I learned 4 things tonight:

1) Soccer practice has started at Olympus HS. This creates a hazard (flying soccer balls)
2) Olympus' new track is definitely windier than Highland
3) I am ready to roll this weekend
4) Dreyers is on sale at Smiths

 

Comments(23)
Running MilesSwimming YardsBike Miles
11.500.000.00

AM - 7.5 miles, horsepark loops again - that's been the theme this week. 

PM - 4 miles w/ Andrea around SHP. Finished on the track and did some stretches and drills.

Now waiting for my plane to board - gotta love the SUPER SLOW wi-fi in SLC airport. 

Comments(18)
Running MilesSwimming YardsBike Miles
9.600.000.00

AM - 7.6 miles in sunny (and warm!) Phoenix... Ocotillo golf course loop, then a few short strides. 

Hanging out w/ my parents today, going to a cactus league baseball game (at the spring training facility where Crockett ran his 48 hr race on New Years) and just taking it easy.

The plan for tomorrow is to run aggressive but not be stupid. I anticipate the race being a lot like the Long Beach 1/2 - it will go out fast. I just plan to tuck in behind the leaders as long as they don't go out at sub 4:40 pace. I can take some chances in a 15K that I wouldn't take in a marathon. I didn't really taper too much for this one, as I want to keep my volume up until its Boston taper time, but this was still a nice cut-back week to only run ~100 miles and I feel pretty fresh. 

PM - 2 miles around the block. Easy breezy, legs feeling snappy. I like when they get this kind of feeling.

Proof that I went to a baseball game. It was boring but nice to sit out in the warm sun for a few hours. Our favorite guy was the Rangers' first base coach. We kept yelling at him to send the runners to steal second base, and he kept doing it! Itchy trigger finger! 

 

 

Comments(12)
Race: Mountain to Fountain 15K (9.32 Miles) 00:45:53, Place overall: 4
Running MilesSwimming YardsBike Miles
20.500.000.00

The Mountain to Fountain 15K should be on everyone's radar if you want to travel to sunny Arizona for a first-class race. This is a great event and I'll definitely be back next year - everyone from the elite runners to the back of the packers was taken care of very well.

My goal today was sub 46 minutes. I figured anything under 46:30 would be acceptable, and 45:30 might be possible if I ran out of my mind, but 46-flat seemed like a good target.

The elite runners met around 6am at the Fountain Hills community center to pick up our bibs, sit around and stare each other down, then we got bused up to the start. You could just look around the room and tell that it was going to be a great race - lots of super fit athletes!

Once we got up to McDowell Mountain Park I just hung around for a little while (I was cold!) and then eventually started my 3 mile warmup and did a bunch of strides. I ducked into the brush to go to the bathroom about 5 minutes before the start, and ended up jabbing some sort of cactus thing into my leg! I was standing on the starting line pulling the prickers out of my left thigh. Awesome. It took my mind off the race until the gun went off.

The first mile was all uphill (~100 feet) and a pack of about 12 guys immediately separated. I just tucked into the back and tried to conserve energy. The pace felt slow, but that was mainly because of the uphill. No one took the initiative to really push the pace, which was probably a good thing for everyone. We hit the first mile in 5:15

I expected the pace to immediately get nuts because now we were hitting some nice downhill, but it didn't happen right away. I was in 9th or 10th place, but only a few strides off the lead. I saw a little gap open up, the lead car with the cameraman hanging out the back, and thought "OK, we're not going to jog for 9 miles and then kick, let's get this party started..." and I just went right to the front and picked up the pace. I led until we hit mile 2 (4:43). 

Now we were rolling. Other guys started making moves. There was a $100 bonus for whoever hit the 5K mark first, so 4-5 guys really started stringing it out. I hung back, and fell back to 8th or 9th place. That was fine with me - I never intended to lead much of the race, I just made the move at the mile to get the real race started.

Mile 3 was 4:39 and I hit the 5K in ~15:11. Mile 4 was 4:38. These were downhill miles, and they were very nice!

The 5th and 6th miles were net downhill but much more rolling than I thought (deceptive b/c that it not what the elevation profile showed). Mile 5 was 4:55. At this point I broke away from the chase pack that had formed. The top 4 guys in the lead pack had a solid 150-200m on us already. Mile 6 was another 4:55, and I hit the 10K in ~30:11 (so 15:00 for the second 5K).

Now I was truly all alone (in 5th place), with one runner about 100+ meters ahead, and the other three guys were way up ahead. I knew that as long as I didn't fall apart, I had a top 5 finish in the bag, but I also wanted the $400 prize for 4th place, so my focus became slowly catching the guy ahead of me.

After 10K this race gets pretty hard. You hit some hills at a bad point in the race, and they are long, grueling climbs. I wasn't really looking at my watch, just focusing on the guy ahead of me, and he was coming back, so I just kept the effort level where it was. I wanted to conserve enough energy so I could pass him with authority when I caught him. Well, the 7th and 8th miles ended up being pretty slow (5:11 and 5:15 - barely faster than marathon pace!). I moved into 4th place at ~7.5 miles and made a little surge to gap the guy I passed immediately.

Now it was time to rally. Quick math told me that I needed to run under 5:00 pace for the last 1.3 to get under 46 minutes. Now that the climbing was over, other than 1 short uphill in the 9th mile, I was able to get the turnover going again and drop the pace. The 9th mile was 4:50. My parents were right before that mile marker and yelled at me to pick it up... I responded and felt like I was able to take it to another gear for the final stretch - 1:30 for 0.32, so about 4:30-something pace on the kick.

Got the sub 46 goal, got the top 5 finish, the $400 in prize money paid for my last 2 plane tickets for AZ trips, and my legs felt really good afterwards. Cooled down 3+ miles on the grass. 

The awards ceremony was fun, the post-race party had tons of great food and drinks (I brought a backpack full of stuff back to my parent's house - Chipotle, gatorades, muscle milk, oreos, chocolate chip cookies, etc etc). People were hanging out, drinking beer and eating pizza and chicken wings at 10am. It was awesome. 

I'm very pleased with this race and I think it really sets the tone for the last 5 weeks heading into Boston. I'm very fit right now - I just need to fine tune a few things and I'm going to be ready to run a strong marathon. 

After the race my legs immediately bounced back. That's a good sign, and an indicator that my strength is my strength. The marathon training really makes your body resilient. 

The three guys who beat me are all top-notch runners and really nice guys. Great performances by them - there isn't much I could have done differently. Curley is emerging as a star, Eggleston is a 2:13 marathoner, and Atmani has run like 28-something for 10K. I'm happy that I'm getting to the point where I can mix it up with guys like that. Hopefully next year I'll be in that lead pack the whole time.

The course was net downhill but I would not consider it a very aided course. The uphill first mile, rollers from 5-6 and then the climb in 7-8 is tough running. I talked to Greg McMillan afterwards and told him I thought I probably could have run faster for a 15K on the track. He agreed and since he is the master of equivalency charts, I guess my theory is sound. He also had about a lot of really nice things to say about Bonnie! :-)

This became a long report! Ice cream time!

Mile splits - 5:15, 4:43, 4:39, 4:38, 4:55, 4:55, 5:11, 5:15, 4:50, 1:30
5K splits - 15:11, 15:00, 15:42

Full Results 

This is almost at mile 9 - my Dad is the guy in blue running on the sidewalk alongside me :-)
 

They had farm animals - I don't know why! There were also a MILLION dogs at the park where the finish line was. Andrea - you would have been in heaven!

 

PM - 5 miles shirtless shorty-shorts shakeout run. Felt great... beautiful day in the valley of the sun. Looking forward to a day of kayaking w/ my dad tomorrow. 

Comments(46)
Running MilesSwimming YardsBike Miles
25.700.000.00

AM - 20 miles. An easy paced (6:55/mi avg) long run on the canal and with some extra loops around Tumbleweed Park. Most of the run was on hardpacked dirt, my favorite surface. No residual soreness or any aches at all from the race yesterday. I'm not even sure how that is possible, but at this point nothing really surprises me. Gonna take several more easier days before hitting a workout again, though. 

PM - 5.7 miles. Hot outside!

Had a great day kayaking at Canyon Lake (pictures here) with my Dad. Loaded up the boats w/ some diet dews and found some cool spots. Who says there is no water in the desert?

From Canyon Lake - March 2012

 

Comments(13)
Running MilesSwimming YardsBike Miles
19.200.000.00

AM - 8.2 miles up to work. Slept in a bit since I had a late flight and didn't get to sleep until after midnight. I felt great running up the hill this morning, but I think I had a major tailwind at my back the whole way :-)

PM - 11 miles. Ran down to SHP, met up w/ Andrea and ran a little over 5 miles with her, looping around on the grass at the park. Then I ran another mile on the track while she was running 200s. When was the last time I was the one jogging around while Andrea was doing a workout? 

Comments(7)
Running MilesSwimming YardsBike Miles
20.200.000.00

AM - 12 miles. FAJA. 6.6 w/ the girls, then Fritz ran part of the rest of the way up to work with me. Apparently the beaches in Brazil are filled with "perfect" looking dudes - I argue that they can't be better looking than the guys you find at Sugar House Park at 6:15am on Wednesdays (even w/ James not showing up this morning). I guess Andrea will have to send back some photos and we'll find out for sure. Plus, what's their 10K PR? :-)

This is a great article comparing Canova and Lydiard. I've read it two nights in a row. Those interested in coaching (esp. Rob M) will find this interesting. "Principles, not formulas, are the keys to successful training" Although if you don't want to read 20 pages or have never heard of Renato Canova, Camille Herron's blog today is a lot shorter and has a great take-home point as well. 

PM - 8.2 miles home. Andrea met me along the way and biked along. I also made a pre-planned two minute stop to sell some excess ski tickets. Productive run! 

Comments(10)
Running MilesSwimming YardsBike Miles
20.200.000.00

AM- 11.2 miles. Progression / Tempo Run on my usual loop. 2.2 mile warmup, then got going... I've felt good the past couple days, but still started slow to make sure all systems were firing and I was totally recovered from the race. 8 miles in 42:02 (5:15 / mile avg). Splits - 5:28, 5:28, 5:17, 5:16, 5:19, 5:07, 5:05, 5:03. Jogged a mile home for the cooldown. Pretty happy with how that went. Perfect weather this morning for the workout.

PM - 9 miles. Ran 3 miles w/ Andrea to warmup, then did 20 x 200m hot/cold in 33.8 seconds average. Cooled down a mile. This was actually really easy because there was a tailwind... just tried to run smooth and relaxed. (Thanks emruns for inspiring me on this workout).

Look at the 3rd photo in this series... I'm two strides past the finish line - doesn't it seem like I ran 45:51, not 45:53? :-)

 

Comments(15)
Running MilesSwimming YardsBike Miles
18.800.000.00

AM - 9.6 miles up to work. Legs felt good, hammies are a little tight so I need to make sure to roll them out really good later.

Andrea is off to Brazil today! She drummed it into my head to not doing anything stupid while she is gone. I guess that means no triple-workout days? :-) 

PM - 9.2 miles home.

Some goodies from Saucony arrived - new marathon flats for Boston, and track spikes that I can't wait to take out for a spin... 

 

Andrea's new kicks - spike up or stay slow!

 

Comments(17)
Running MilesSwimming YardsBike Miles
27.600.000.00

AM - 21 miles. Long / Tempo run on the JRP. Slept in as late as possible and didn't get started until ~9:30am (gotta be ready for that 10am start at Boston, right?). Ran 10 miles south at ~6:55 pace, then turned around and did my tempo w/ the tailwind. 10 miles in 52:15 (5:14 / mile average). Splits - 5:08, 5:14, 5:13, 5:10, 5:21 (wooden slippery bridge, dodging walkers and bikers), 5:14, 5:16, 5:17, 5:08.  There was a good tailwind for the first 4 miles, then it became more of a crosswind for the next 4-5 miles. I was actually happy about that because now I don't need to put 3 giant asterisks next to this run (I can just put one). The tailwind came back for the last mile and it felt nice! Ran an easy mile to cool down afterwards. 

This was my last 20+ miler before Boston. The next couple weekends I'll do long tempo runs. At this point, I can't get any stronger aerobically, so its more about specificity. 

PM - 6.6 miles easy. Horsepark loops. Still warm out... that's gonna change by tomorrow morning! 

Boston seed numbers / corrals are out! I got #29.

Oh, and happy St. Patrick's Day! I'll be eating mint chocolate chip to celebrate, and watching my favorite leprechaun news story of all-time. 

Comments(17)
Running MilesSwimming YardsBike Miles
18.800.000.00

AM - 12.8 miles. Nice easy run around Holladay, down to 6200S and looped back. Weather was surprisingly not too bad (especially since 145" of snow fell between 4 and 5am this morning.. haha I think a snowcat drove into the weather station!). Another double digit night for sleep hours - didn't get started until 10am again.

This has been another great week of running. I bounced back quicker from the 15K even faster than I thought I would, got in a nice long run on Monday, then quality days on Thursday and yesterday, all while keeping the overall volume at a high level. The whole winter has gone well, but I feel especially fortunate now that it seems that all the little aches have completely gone away. I have 100% health going into these last couple weeks of hard workouts. 

PM - 6 miles, horsepark loops. Finally heard from Andrea, she made it to Brazil in one piece, and is still in one piece. She only sent me one picture, but its a good one... check out that track location! :-) ....

 

Comments(11)
Running MilesSwimming YardsBike Miles
20.500.000.00

AM - 10 miles, up to work. It snowed twice during the run for a grand total of about 35 snowflakes. 

PM - 10.5 miles home with some extra loops on the grass in SHP. 

Comments(6)
Running MilesSwimming YardsBike Miles
19.500.000.00

AM - 10 miles. 10K Tempo in 32:23 (5:13/mile avg). Splits - 5:14, 5:24, 5:15, 5:09, 5:14, 5:06, 1:01. Another deposit in the workout bank. I started re-reading Once a Runner (for the 20th time) over the past two nights... that book makes it really easy to get in the right mindset for harder efforts... in fact it makes it fun!

PM - 9.5 miles. So, maybe one workout a day is fun, but I have to admit that getting mentally prepared for #2 is a little more difficult. But such decisions were made long ago, when I decided to run a spring marathon, right? Anyways - warmed up by running 3 miles around SHP then went down to the track. 3 x 1600m in 4:54, 4:56, 4:55 (400m jog), then 8 x 200m in 33.0 avg (200m jog). I was thinking of doing another 1600 rep, but then thought about how I commended Melody and Rachelle for knowing when to pull the plug on their workouts today, and figured maybe I should take my own advice :-)  Without Andrea around, it takes more effort to come to such logical conclusions. In any case, a good workout... I got what I wanted out of it - some LT miles and some turnover work - and I stopped while I was still at a point where I was feeling good.

Comments(26)
Running MilesSwimming YardsBike Miles
20.400.000.00

AM - 13.1 miles up to work. Met Fritz on my way up at SHP and we ran 5+ miles together before he turned off to the gym and I headed up the hill.

PM - 7.3 miles home. I love when its warm out, but the west slabs of Mt Olympus are snow-covered. It has to be one of the most stunning "urban" views in the world. 

Since everyone ordered OAR (the book, not the band) yesterday, I figured I should post Chapter 17: Breaking Down to further fuel the fire. This chapter is always worth a read, even out of context of the rest of the book... the whole thing is quotable...

Cassidy sought no euphoric interludes. They came, when they did, quite naturally and he was content to enjoy them privately. He ran not for crypto-religious reasons, but to win races, to cover ground fast. Not only to be better than his fellows, but better than himself. To be faster by a tenth of a second, by an inch, by two feet or two yards than he had been the week or year before. He sought to conquer the physical limitations placed upon him by a three-dimensional world (and if Time is the fourth dimension, that too was his province). If he could conquer the weakness, the cowardice in himself, he would not worry about the rest;it would come. Training was a rite of purification; from it came speed, strength. Racing was a rite of death; from it came knowledge. Such rites demand, if they are to be meaningful at all, a certain amount of time spent precisely on the Red Line, where you can lean over the manicured putting green at the edge of the precipice and see exactly nothing.

Comments(9)
Running MilesSwimming YardsBike Miles
16.000.000.00

AM - 8 miles. Warmed up 3 miles around SHP, then went down to the track and did a 5K Threshold Tempo in 15:33 (4:58, 4:59, 5:00, 35). Cooled down 2 miles. I definitely misunderestimated how dark it was going to be at the track this morning (despite the fact that I run outside every single day at that time). 

PM - 8 miles. Ran 30 minutes easy on the grass at SHP, then grabbed my spikes and went back down to the track. Rob was there, and he shared some wisdom with me: "Spikes are spikes, you just buy them because they look cool." Well, mine look cool. Spiked up for the first time in about 4 years and ran 8 x 400m in 67.9 average (200m jog). Jogged around for a bit to cool down.

Today was definitely a deposit (not withdrawal!) day. I don't even feel like I did anything. But that's good because I need to save up some energy for a long tempo run on Saturday. All afternoon I kept coming up with ways to modify the afternoon workout to make it more challenging, but eventually I realized I was being stupid and the whole point was just to get in a little speed and make sure the spikes felt good. In the end, mission accomplished.

I guess I'll add my first impressions of the Endorphin LD3. Super light, the toe-box has more room than the spikes I used to wear (Zoom Kennedy). In fact you could probably get away wearing socks with them, although I am strongly against socks w/ spikes! The upper hugs the foot perfectly and there are absolutely no seams (so perfect for wearing without socks). I think they'll be good for 5K/10K.

Comments(18)
Running MilesSwimming YardsBike Miles
16.400.000.00

AM - 8.2 miles, easy jog up to work.

PM - 8.2 miles, marginally faster jog home. 

Comments(3)
Running MilesSwimming YardsBike Miles
23.500.000.00

AM - 19.5 miles. Today was my big 26.2K Tempo Run (16.3 miles)... the metric marathon. Obviously this is taken right from the Hanson's playbook. I did this out at the airport-saltair frontage road. It was kinda windy (~10-12mph from E/SE), so a cross/tail wind when heading west, and a pretty tough headwind when heading back west. It definitely took a lot more effort (and focus) running into the wind, and it also prevented me from turning this into a 26.2K time trial, which is actually a good thing. The goal for this workout was a consistent MP effort on legs that are nowhere near tapered yet.

I ran 1:26:59 (5:20/mile average) for the tempo. Splits were: 5:18, 5:19, 5:21, 5:16, 5:20, 5:20, 5:26, 5:27, 5:26, 5:25, 5:17, 5:17, 5:24, 5:24, 5:17, 5:16, 1:26. The ones in italics were into the headwind. Warmed up 1.5, cooled down 1.7. This is the longest tempo run I've ever done... physically it wasn't that bad- it was more of a mental challenge to stay focused when running solo for that long.

From the 15K until today, this is probably the best two week stretch of running I've ever done. That alone doesn't really mean anything, but put into the overall context of my training this winter, and the fact that I'm starting to feel my best right now despite the workload (its not breaking me down, and I'm finishing every workout feeling like I could do more), my confidence is very high going into these last couple weeks before Boston. 

Last night I got the idea to make a mountain dew (de-carbonated) based electrolyte drink (I added in Hammer electrolyte tablets). I tired it out today, and it was a delicious explosion of sugar/caffeine/salt. However on my cooldown I threw up in my mouth a little bit, but I think it was more due to the fact that I got a whiff of dead animals (or whatever terrible smelling things they keep near the salt lake). I'll have to think about this more... I'm not even sure what my fluids situation is for Boston at this point (how many bottles, etc). If I can make a concoction w/ Mtn Dew, it has enough sugar that I wouldn't have to worry about taking any gels (the ideal sitaution for me). But that's only if I can get a bottle every 5K or so. Hopefully their coordinator will get back to me this week with more details.

I'm hoping to use these wash bottles in Boston. They work pretty well...
 

This is how I stashed bottles out on the course. Chicken wire looped onto the bottle - easy to grab on the run. I duct taped them to the ground so they wouldn't blow away in the wind. I did this same method at UVM last year. It works great if you have hand-eye coordination. At UVM I missed 3 of my 6 bottles! Today I only missed 1 out of 4 and that was only because the wind blew it over.
 

PM - 4 miles easy around the block. I wonder what my neighbors (who only see me running on weekends in the afternoon) think of me? They've probably never seen me move faster than 8 minute pace :-) 

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17.500.000.00

AM - 9.5 miles. Met ACorn at Highland HS - we ran 5-6 miles on the roads, then finished up with several loops around SHP on the grass. Good run and conversation on a nice warm morning.

My legs felt like they had some spring in them today. I honestly thought yesterday's tempo would have made them a little stiff, but it didn't! Good sign. Still, I'm not doing any faster running for a few more days. I also stuck to my new plan of only eating 1/2 as much pizza as I think I should at The Pie last night, and therefore didn't feel like junk this morning. 

PM - 8 miles. Ran a bunch of horsepark loops on the grass/gravel. This was just a really enjoyable run... really nice outside, tons of dogs running around, and I felt great.

I'm 50/50 on whether I'm going to run the 5K at UVU this coming Friday. It kinda depends on who else enters the meet. If there are other fast guys running, I'm in. If not, its not worth leaving work early and driving down to Provo. I have a feeling most college guys are going to be saving it up for Stanford... part of me really wants to just buy a plane ticket and go out there and run a 5K or 10K... but the I'm concerned about the travel and carnival-like atmosphere wearing me down even just a little bit. Gotta stay in the orb until Boston, not get into any exciting situations until then, and then let it all out.

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AM - 10 miles, up to work. It got progressively lighter outside during the first half of the run, then darker again as the clouds started to roll in. Thunderstorm? That probably means thunder-snow up in the mountains, which is really cool (and scary!) when it happens.

PM - 7.3 miles home.  

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AM - 8 miles. Horsepark loops.

PM - 10 miles. Warmed up 3 miles around SHP, 20 x 200m (hot/cold) on the track, then cooled down 2 miles. Average for the 200s was 33.1 seconds (as it seems to usually be). I think I'm sort of just locked in at 33-flat 200s, whether I am running 4 or 40 of them.

Goal for today was to just get my legs loosened up for the last couple harder workouts coming up, without doing anything very taxing. Going through the full range of motion and running with good form on this workout seems to always make me feel better afterwards.

On my cooldown I saw a guy that looked like fiddy from a distance and I was excited... but it turned out to be a false alarm. I kicked the guy in the shins for getting my hopes up.

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AM - 8.5 miles, up to work.

PM - 8.5 miles, back home. 

Anyone see the new course for the Provo City 5K? I gotta say that I am a fan. Straight shot down University, no tangents! That will be a fast, but not overly-aided one.

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AM - 8.3 miles. Usual warmup, 5 mile tempo in 25:59 (5:12/mile). Splits - 5:17, 5:15, 5:14, 5:10, 5:03. Ran home for the cooldown. Checked my email when I got back and saw that Andrea ran an awesome tempo run this morning, so that got me pretty excited for her. 

PM - 8 miles around SHP on the grass. Originally the plan was to do some faster stuff this afternoon, and Kevin (Redd) was going to join me at the track. But the forecast for the weekend is not looking great (hurricane wind, again!), so I decided to move Saturday morning's planned workout to Friday afternoon, and therefore could only run easy this afternoon. Two workouts in one day is a good training stimulus, 3 workouts in 2 days is stupid. Kevin was cool w/ the change of plans so we just ran loops around the perimeter of the park. 

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20.500.000.00

AM - 6.5 miles. Horsepark loops.

PM - 14 miles. Warmed up 1.5 miles, did a few strides, then went right into the workout - 2 x 5 miles in 26:16, 26:15 with a one mile jog in-between. Splits - 5:14, 5:19, 5:17, 5:17, 5:10, easy mile in 6:50, then 5:16, 5:17, 5:16, 5:14, 5:12. Cooled down another 1.5 miles.

Hot and windy this afternoon. I felt like I was battling a head-wind the whole time. I was very salty by the time I was finished. For both marathons last year, I did this workout 10 days before the race, and had a tendency to really hammer the second 5 mile segment... maybe too fast when I did it before Philly, looking back at that workout now. Since I did it a little further out, and on more tired legs this time, there was no point in being a workout hero today. I feel like I put in a good effort and got what I needed out of this without over-doing it. The wind made it more challenging than the previous times I've done this. The key for the next 2 weeks is the find the balance of enough faster running, but err on the side of doing slightly too little. Next week I'll do one workout, most likely, where I let 'em rip a bit. 

Found out today that I will not be getting any fluid bottles on the course at Boston, "due to the depth and strength of the field." I didn't make the cut. Honestly, I think its fair. If I want to be get these kind of perks, I should run some elite-level times before I go asking for special treatment. Walk the walk before I talk the talk. I'll get my chance to do that very soon. 

Group run tomorrow (10-15 miles) - 8:00am at Highland HS.

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AM - 16 miles. Met Fritz, Allie, James, Kevin, Adam (another new Adam), and Rob "hold on guys, we need to run by my house so I can get my sunglasses and look cool" Murphy. We ran a ~7.5 mile loop through Millcreek/SHP, at which point the all the shirts came off when we ran by our cars (suns out = guns out). Then we ran up through Tanner Park / Parleys Trail and finished up with a grass loop on the perimeter of SHP. Best part of the run was probably passing a bunch of little kids who were running in the park, cheering them on and giving them high-fives.

Great run this morning. Lots of dorky running banter. I love it. The last couple Saturdays I've been out hammering workouts solo, so it was really nice to have a relaxed, fun run with friends today. Felt good after yesterday's workout - I slept like a freaking rock last night, so that definitely sped up the recovery. 

PM - 7 miles, horsepark loops, working on my tan. 

If anyone is interested in a Sunday run... tomorrow I'm meeting AdamRW and ACorn for about 10 miles - we'll start from Dan's Supermarket / Starbucks on Foothill, 8:00am. 

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