Wheeler Farm Loops

AM - 4.5 mi. Easy run up on campus. Recovery, recovery, recovery.
PM - 3.6 mi. Two laps around Sugarhouse. 

AM - 7.2 mi. Easy run up to work.
PM - 6 mi. Ran to the track and did 6x200m in ~33 seconds 

AM - 6.3 mi. Easy run w/ Andrea. Third straight easy day... feels pretty good! We're running a 5K tomorrow as a last little shakeout/tuneup workout before UVM. I'm definitely more geared towards a 50 mile race than a 5K right now, but it should be fun!

Last tune-up before UVM... the race started at Tanner Park and finished in Sugarhouse. Got a much better warmup than before the 10K last weekend. The first 1.5 miles of the course had a net drop, then it was pretty much flat the rest of the way. Definitely a nice, fast course (although it was also definitely long... we measured it twice, and both times it was about 90 meters long).

My primary competition was Andrea, so I didn't have anyone with me right from the start. I came through the first mile in 4:29... whew!... haven't run that fast since some track races in DC 3 year ago... kept cruising on the second mile, which I hit in 4:38 (9:08 at 2 miles). At this point my focus shifted to making sure I didn't do anything to hurt myself (I've had a slight groin pull that I'm hoping doesn't act up in the marathon next weekend), so I took the pedal off the gas a bit in the third mile (5:10). I had a ton of half-marathon runners to catch in the last stretch, and came through in 14:47. Somehow the posted results had me ~5-6 seconds slower, but there is no way that is correct... I stopped my watch after going past both of the timing mats because I was trying to be very conservative with my time.

Pretty happy with how good I felt today. So far I think I am getting the taper right :-)

Andrea finished 2nd overall in 16:52. Flying!!! 

Easy 11 miler w/ Andrea this morning. 

Headed up to Alta to ski some corn in the sunshine... some photos on our blog of how its looking up there.... then came home and went swimming! I think winter might finally be over! Ski day #50 of the season for me... not as much as last year (108 days)... but pretty good for working a Mon-Fri job and running about four times as much mileage this winter!

From June 5 Skiing

 

AM - 7.2 mi. Ran up to work. Feeling excellent this morning.
PM - 4.3 mi. Down to Sugarhouse... then 8 x 50-60m strides on the track while Andrea was doing her shakeout run.

AM - 4.5 miles easy on campus.
PM - 5.3 miles. Last little workout before the weekend. Met Andrea and measured out a mile w/ our bikes on Wasatch Blvd that had an average -1% gradient. Down for 2/3 of the way and then back up a bit over the last 1/3. Ran 2 x 1 mile w/ jogging the mile back as recovery - 4:57, 4:55. Felt like about half-marathon effort. Ready to roll!

AM - 6.2 miles. Easy run through a few of the parks w/ Andrea.
PM - 1 mile... just an easy jog to loosen up after work.

AM - 4.5 miles easy.
PM - 1.5 miles at the track. Quick warmup, then 4 x 200m in 41 seconds... feeling out race pace. Goal #1 for Saturday is to try and NOT run faster than 5:20 for the first mile!

AM - 4.5 miles easy w/ Andrea. Legs felt bouncy and sharp this morning...the calm before the storm...

The short story: Marathon debut, 2:21:46, negative split (71:10 / 70:36), and actually ran a half-marathon PR for the second half of the race.

The long version: Today was a most excellent day. It was fun and rewarding and just felt damn good to run fast. I've put in a lot of miles this winter in an effort to get myself back to a competitive level of running. Four to five months ago my goal for this race was to get to the starting line healthy and run under 2:37 (~6 min pace). As the spring (or endless winter) progressed, consistency was the name of the game, and my fitness steadily improved. A week after running a half-marathon PR at the Provo City Half, I did a 13 mile tempo that told me I had jumped to a new level. For the last 3 weeks leading up to UVM, my workouts were fantastic, and I felt great pretty much every single day as I tapered down the mileage. I knew I was ready for a special run today. My goal was to run ~1:13 for the first half and then negative split... but even with that objective in mind and realizing that the marathon is a long race that deserves a lot of respect, my real "plan" was to run without any external or internal limits... to just go out there, lay my cards down, and let it happen... I woke up almost every hour last night hoping it was finally 3:30am and time to get going.

Now to the race... perfect temps at the start, cool and dry. Bryant Jensen and the 2 Kenyans separated right from the gun, I hung back in the second pack w/ Paul, Dave, Clyde, and Sasha. The first mile felt super easy (5:47). We picked it up a bit on the second mile (5:29) but it was still conversational. The gap to the lead pack was getting big, so Paul and I took off a bit after 2 miles. Mile 3-5 were 4:59, 5:17, 5:23. Paul kept increasing the pace so I let him go, realizing I was going at a nice tempo at that point. Mile 6 was 5:15, then we hit the rolling hills for miles 7-9 (5:32, 5:31, 5:44). The next mile was back to 5:15 for a ten mile split of 54:16. A little faster than planned, but I was feeling great, despite running alone since the ~5.5 miles.

Miles 11-13 were 5:25, 5:36, 5:23. I passed one of the Kenyans at the 12 mile marker and moved into 4th place. Came through the half-marathon in 1:11:10. Faster than I thought I would, but I was feeling great, and the plan was to run with no limits, right? I knew that unless one of the guys ahead of me really blew up, they weren't coming back, and nobody from behind was going to catch me, so I focused on running my own race.

Miles 14-20 were 5:28, 5:23, 5:37 (uphill the whole way, I was actually really happy about this split), 5:22, 5:16, 5:24, 5:15. Twenty miles in 1:48:31, and that means my ten mile splits were 54:16 / 54:15. Very consistent. Miles 21-22 were 5:22, 5:17. Now I'm starting to feel it a bit. Not really in my legs, but in my TOES! I could feel a couple blisters coming at about 16 miles. Now they were hurting pretty bad, but nothing I couldn't fight through. Miles 23-24 were 5:26, 5:37 (hill). Hurting a bit but keeping it together... For the last few miles I started thinking "keep every mile under 5:30, and break 2:23"... Mile 25 was 5:21. Back on track. Andrea was at this point and cheered me on. Put the pedal down a bit and ran 5:13 for the 26th mile. I'm trying to do the math in my head... can I possibly get under 2:22?... when I hit the final chute I saw 2:21-something on the clock, then put my head down, and just absolutely went for it. The crowd was great, and anyone that saw the finish can attest that I was probably the most excited 4th place finisher of all-time! Ran 57 seconds for the final 0.2, almost tripping over my own feet as I was pumping my fists, and came in at 2:21:46. The second half of the race was 1:10:36, which is the fastest half-marathon I've ever run.

I had to take my shoes off as soon as I finished, so I just sat down on the ground and waited for Andrea to come find me. Needless to say, my excitement doubled when she told me that she won the half-marathon! As happy as I've been about my improvement curve over the past 6 months, I'm even more stoked for her... and I honestly mean it when I say that there's no way that I would been able to run so well today without her day-to-day support. 

This race feels good in a lot of ways. I'm sure I'll have a better perspective on it in the next few days. For now I'm just going to enjoy it and not try to over-analyze it. I put in the miles, did smart workouts, had fun doing it, and executed a great race today.

It was great to finally meet a bunch of you guys today. Hopefully Andrea and I will see you at a lot more races in the future. I also want to thank Hyrum and the UVM staff for putting on an excellent event... every detail was covered and very professionally done.

Now we're going to take a few easy weeks, ski, bike, hike, and let the bodies re-charge.

The next marathon is going to be Philadelphia in November. Goal time... TBD :-)  ...but if I've learned anything about myself in the last few months as I've built up towards this race, its that I'm not putting any limits on what I'm capable of.

AM - 2.2 miles. Easy "shake out the kinks" run. Surprisingly, I'm not really even sore. The balls of my feet and a few toes are blistered... but my legs feel fine. Of course that makes me think I could have run harder! :-) The toe pain I had in the last few miles was perhaps as much of a limiting factor as muscular fatigue. Whatever... I'm not second guessing yesterday's race at all!

Cruised around on bikes for a few hours in the afternoon (primarily looking to see which store had the best sale on M&Ms), and catching up on some chores that have been neglected in the past week. Nice to just enjoy an easy day.

AM - Rode my bike up to work. Took almost as long as it take me to run!
PM - 3 miles. Biked down to Sugarhouse, ran w/ Andrea, then biked home. I feel great... but I'm still taking it super easy this week.

I did a little breakdown of splits of UVM at work today that I think is interesting (which I also posted on my other blog, and that version includes a gross picture of my foot that I didn't want to subject everyone on here to look at!)... I took my mile splits and compared them to Paul's. We ran together for the first 6 miles, before he pulled away and chased down the leaders. He ended up finishing 2 minutes and 17 seconds ahead of me, and I wanted to see at what point during the race I lost that time to him.

After Paul put a small gap on me during the 7th mile, I actually made up some time on mile 8-9, which were primarily uphill and pretty difficult. At mile 10 Paul caught the leaders and obviously that spiced things up a bit up front, and they started flying. From 10-19 is where they really pulled away, except for miles 12 and 16, which had big hills. Over the last 10K, I actually ran fairly close to what Paul ran.

So, the positives I take from this are that I ran the uphills very well and closed strong for the last 10K. I'm much stronger on uphills than downhills... so that is something I need to work on... but I'm glad that its not the other way around. The middle part of the race will come with more training and experience. It would not have been wise to try and match Paul's acceleration after the 6th mile... I may have been able to hang for a while, but it absolutely would have come back to bite me later on. I'm happy that I was smart enough to let him go and focus on running my own race, and running negative splits.

If you saw allie's video of my finish, its clear that I had something left in the tank at the end. That is another good sign.

AM - 4.5 mi
PM - Skied a lap at Alta... nothing like skiing in plaid shorts at 7pm! On a good note, my toe blisters are healed enough to wear ski boots, which means they are 99% better.

From Random June

AM - 6.7 mi. Now I'm sitting in the airport... flying to Philadelphia (work conference) for the remainder of the week. The upside of this trip is that I get to run a bit of the marathon course.

AM - 9 miles from downtown Philly to the art museum, and then on the path along the Schuylkill River. Out and back. Nice run. 

AM - 9 miles along the river again in Philly... the final miles of the marathon course. There is a short, gradual uphill over the last quarter mile of the course. Definitely will be remembering that one in November!

Flew back from Philly early this morning. Ran 11.4 miles easy w/ Andrea when I got back.

AM - 7.7 miles, rain run! We were planning of skiing Superior or Timp today, but obviously the weather gods are not cooperating. So now we are prepping gear for vacation (leaving next Friday). We're going to Tahoe and then either Mt Shasta or the Sierra Eastside for skiing, trail running, and biking. Luckily the planning isn't as extensive as last summer's "vacation", a 225 mile thru-hike on the John Muir Trail.

AM - 10.1 miles easy

AM - 10.8 miles. Ran 40 minutes solo, then looped back home and did 5 mi w/ Andrea.

AM - 10.7 miles. Let myself run a little quicker this morning and it felt good. Getting excited about our upcoming vacation. We are leaving for California on Friday afternoon... heading to Tahoe/Mammoth Lakes for 10 days of skiing, running, and biking.
PM - 3.2 miles easy run w/ Andrea.

AM - 7.2 miles, easy run up to work.
PM - 5.8 miles. Ran down to the track and did 6 x 200m, averaging 31 seconds. We're going to be in Mammoth Lakes on July 4th, and they have a road mile race that day as part of the town's festivities... and according to twitter, it seems like Josh Cox will probably be running, along with who knows how many other Olympians that live there... so I just wanted to see if I had any turnover in my legs after the marathon (I do). If I end up doing the run, it will be at the end of our trip, so I won't be taking it too seriously.

AM - 7.2 miles up to work.
PM - 4.4 miles, from work to downtown... Andrea picked me up and we drove all the way to Carson City, NV.

AM - 8 miles on a foothill jeep trail in Carson City, with a few nice climbs. 
PM - 4.5 miles around some South Tahoe neighborhoods.

In between we did a great bike ride at Heavenly up one of the service roads... about a 2500 foot climb over the first half of an 11 mile ride. Stopped once we hit too much snow.

From Summer Vacation - South Tahoe

From Summer Vacation - South Tahoe

 

Another great multi-sport day. Did a quick 5.5 mile run on the lake in the morning, then went to ski Mt. Tallac, the most prominent peak seen from South Tahoe. Even though its almost July and Tahoe is only @ 6K feet, the couloirs are still pretty filled in. We skied an awesome line called the Cathedral Couloir, which had a nice, steep entry off the top. Lots of fun. Finished up the day with some mountain biking. Put up a bunch of pics on my picasa page. 

From Summer Vacation - South Tahoe

AM - 8 miles on the Rubicon Trail around Emerald Bay w/ Andrea. Amazing trail, right on the water. One of the most beautiful trails I have ever run.
PM - 5 miles in Kings Beach w/ Andrea biking along.

In between we skied 2 runs at Alpine Meadows in awesome summer conditions. We were able to ski right to the car.

From Summer Vacation - Emerald Bay and Alpine Meadows

We ran around this bay, which was superb.

From Summer Vacation - Emerald Bay and Alpine Meadows

From Summer Vacation - Emerald Bay and Alpine Meadows

AM - 9 miles w/ a handful of lung-busting hills in North Tahoe.
Then skied 2 laps (skinned 3000 feet) at Alpine Meadows (went to Squaw Valley first, but Alpine actually had more snow)... in the afternoon we did an awesome mountain bike ride w/ another 1000 feet of climbing on some XC ski trails that Andrea found. I'm exhausted!

Ran into this guy during lunch...

The running trails here are pretty sweet...

AM - 15 miles. It was raining all night, so we slept in. Ran 8 mi w/ Andrea in Incline Village on the bike path, then ran back to Kings Beach along the lake and added on a few large hills. Gotta take advantage of the perfect altitude (in my opinion, training at ~6500 feet is ideal).
PM - 4 miles

In between, the weather cleared so we went up to Mt Rose, skinned up to the summit, and skied a lap... battling some pretty large suncups on the descent. The next 4 days look perfect - weather going back to sunny, low 80s, and 0% chance of rain. Tomorrow we are headed south to Tioga Pass... should be some awesome skiing... can't wait.

From Summer Vacation - North Tahoe

 

AM - 8 miles in Tahoe
PM - 4 miles on a nice trail in June Lake w/ Andrea. We could definitely feel the lack of O2 now that we are up to 7650 feet! Tomorrow we'll be at 9K in Mammoth.
In between runs, we drove from Tahoe down 395 to Tioga Pass and skied Ellery Bowl. It was INCREDIBLE. The upper section of the bowl was pushing 50 degrees, no exaggeration. Climbing it was a bit scary... dropping in and actually skiing the top took some confidence. Major kudos to Andrea for absolutely rocking this! I would say that this line makes skiing Mt Superior feel like the bunny slope! :-) The scenery in the Yosemite high country is stunning... even if you aren't a skier, you'll appreciate these pics: Tioga Pass / Ellery Bowl

From Summer Vacation - Tioga Pass