Wheeler Farm Loops

AM - 14 miles. Did a workout at Sugarhouse Park on the inner road loop: 4 x 2 miles - 10:38, 10:23, 10:22, 10:20. Was shooting for marathon pace, but ended up averaging a few ticks faster. Did about a half-mile jog b/w reps. 

I found out this morning that I received a complimentary entry to the Philadelphia Marathon this November, so that's good. Their "elite" program get me access to a nice little warmup area, private bathrooms, etc.

PM - 8 miles on the BST, from HCI heading north. Took it super easy (~8:20 pace) and just enjoyed it. Nice change of pace for my legs. 

AM - 10.3 miles. Paced Andrea for her workout, then ran up to work from Sugarhouse.
PM - 6.2 miles easy. Met Andrea along the way and did a Sugarhouse loop.  

AM - 12 miles. Pyramid workout on the track: 2-4-8-12-16-12-8-4-2. Splits were 35, 71, 2:25, 3:44, 5:00, 3:45, 2:26, 70, 33. My legs didn't quite have that "snap" this morning... I felt like I could run 75s all day, but didn't have the turnover to go much quicker. Rather than force the pace, I just kept the effort level consistent. No point in pushing workouts too hard... they are all just building blocks. 

I should note that the cheerleaders were out in full force again this morning. They start practice at 6am! Today they ran a mile and did jump rope... which as you can imagine made running on the track like running through a war zone!

PM - 8 miles on Wasatch Blvd, from the Dan's Supermarket to the 6200S Park & Ride and back. Nice run. Haven't done that one in a while. 

AM - 9.2 miles up to work.
PM - 6 miles. Ran down to the Highland track and did 6 x 150m in 23-24 seconds.

*We're going to do a long run on Sunday morning at Jeremy Ranch, if anyone wants to join. 

AM - 7 miles easy.
PM - 3 miles shakeout. Been feeling a little "blah" today, but hopefully a good night of sleep will do the trick and I'll feel good in the morning. Racing the Minuteman/Charitable Trust 5K.

Also got my new racing uniform from Saucony in the mail (Andrea and I are now both running for their Hurricane team... jtshad is also on the squad), so I'll be decked out in some sweet bright orange clothing from now on! 

AM - 5K race in Sandy. Not an easy course - the last 1/2 mile is a tough hill, and since the start/finish are in different spots, its actually a net uphill route by ~40 feet. I've been putting in some bigger mileage lately, and hit a couple good workouts this week, so I wasn't really feeling fresh going into this. The cannon start came out of nowhere, Teren jumped out to the lead as usual, and I just filed in behind w/ a few other guys. Brandon Hebbert quickly moved up to Teren on the first hill and I hung back just a little. I hit the mile in 4:55, probably 5 seconds behind. They increased the lead on me in the second mile (4:59). I didn't quite have the spark in my legs to run a great last mile and sort of just cruised it, since I was gapped and in no man's land. Ugly 3rd mile (~5:20) but that last hill is a killer. Came through in 15:49 for 3rd place... then jogged back and watched Andrea bring it in for the win, which was very exciting. Great first race since Utah Valley for her!

At first I was a little disappointed in this performance, but Andrea helped me put it in the perspective of the overall volume of training I have been doing recently.  I can't expect to be sharp all the time right now, but I got in another solid workout today, and won $50, so overall I call that a success :-)

Warmup was 3 miles, Cooldown was 6, most of it w/ the girls (Andrea, Emily, Susannah, and Stefanie). By the time I wrapped up my cooldown, all the Chick-Fil-A sandwiches were gone! Bummer!

PM - 3 mile run up in Mill Creek Canyon, shakeout. We were running on the Pipeline trail and got rattled at by a rattlesnake, which scared the living daylights out of me. I HATE snakes! Andrea stopped after 2 miles and I added on another one, then called it a day. Before the run, we rode our mountain bikes up to Dog Lake... a nice little 1000 foot climb on some very smooth singletrack. Fun bike ride on a beautiful afternoon.

Dog Lake:

From August 2011

 

AM - 20 miles at Jeremy Ranch. Ran 15 w/ Andrea (she ran very strong today) at a relaxed pace, then added on 5 more a little quicker (6:00 pace). Gorgeous up there this morning. Saw moosetracks (the footprints, not the ice cream, unfortunately) in the dirt, but no mooses!

PM - 4 miles easy. Trying out my new Kinvaras. The Tangent has been my go-to shoe, but its discontinued and I only have 2 pairs left. The Kinvaras are money, though! Love the feel and the flexibility. 

AM - 13 miles up to work. Started early, nice & cool out.

PM - 13.6 miles. Ran home (8 miles) and as I came in the door, Andrea was about to head out for her run, so I just joined her since it was so nice out and I was feeling great.  

AM - 10 miles. Went to the Skyline High School w/ Andrea and did a workout. Warmed up, then did a 2 mile tempo on the road (10:20), jogged a few minutes, then went to the track and ran 8 x 400m (Avg 70.4 seconds) w/ 200m recovery jog. Felt good considering I ran 50+ miles in the previous 2 days.

PM - 4.4 miles after spending a fun couple hours at the DMV. Now I'm officially a Utah resident. I probably should have gotten that taken care of about 15 months ago.

AM - 15.6 miles up to work. Ran ~5 w/ Andrea. Kept the pace nice and easy.
PM - 7.1 miles down to Sugarhouse to meet Andrea for her shakeout.

AM - 12 miles easy.

PM - 8 miles. Did a light "get the legs moving" workout. Also wanted to try out my Saucony Peregrine trail shoes. Ran 4 miles on the outer loop at Sugarhouse, then did 10 x ~200m on the grass. Garmin tells me my average pace on the reps was 4:38/mile, so they were like 35s. Nice to do it on the grass, and I like the shoes.

Before running this morning I went down to the human performance lab at the U and got a BodPod test. I didn't have to pay for it, and actually get my health insurance premium reduced by doing things like this. We have a pretty good wellness program on campus.

The test result was that my body fat percentage is 1.5%. Yeah right! These pods (which cost >$30,000) are pretty accurate, but only within 1.0-2.7%. So realistically, maybe I'm actually somewhere ~4% or maybe even a little higher. That is still pretty good, and exactly where I should be based on how much I am running. This is what the results show... 

When I got to work, one of my co-workers had left a 2 lb chunk of cake on my desk. Based on the result of my test, I think I can afford to munch on it! 

AM - 7.4 miles up to work, easy. Tomorrow I'm running a 15K trail race in Park City. Just using it as a tempo / progression run and not going anywhere near all out. It should be fun.

PM - 4.4 miles easy. 

AM - 14 miles - Park City Trail 15K. Report below.
PM  - 4.4 miles shakeout, probably too fast. Biked downtown to see the Tour of Utah, too.

Race Recap
Despite a flat tire on the way over, we got there in plenty of time for a short warmup. The course was primarily on singletrack at Round Valley. As I said yesterday, my objective today was tempo run (and to not twist my ankle!). Here's the course elevation profile:

I found myself in the lead after about a quarter mile, and didn't see anyone else until the finish line. Splits were 5:39 (a little hill then mainly flat), 5:57 (all uphill), 5:42 (net downhill, but very rocky / technical), 5:55 (rolling on the twistiest trail I have ever run), 6:22 (all uphill on more of the twisty trail), 5:53, 5:50 (these two miles were downhill but it was impossible to get moving b/c of all the switchbacks, I was just trying not to get hurt!), 5:19 (jeep road, woohoo), then 4:22 for the last 0.9 miles. The course was 0.4 miles short :-) Average pace was 5:45/mile. Final time was 51:05.

Perfect tempo run at 6500-7000 feet on some really fun trails. I really wasn't even breathing hard by the end of it, so I stayed well within myself as planned. I'm not a fantastic downhill runner on technical trails, so I was just happy to not injure myself on the downhills in the middle of the course... a few times I came into the switchbacks too hot and almost ran off the trail... 150 degrees turns are tough! I am very impressed by the folks who can fly down that type of terrain. I think 2nd place was about 7 minutes behind, and Andrea was really close to the other top guys.

After the race I actually got a massage, which hopefully will help me recover quickly, since I have another harder effort planned for tomorrow. Cooled down a little over 3 miles on the grass fields.

While we were waiting for awards, Galen Rupp, Mo Farah, and their crew came running by looking crazy smooth and fast. Its cool to just randomly see some of the top runners in the entire world cruising along. 

We both had our new fluorescent uniforms that Saucony sent us for this one... they are very bright!...

From August 2011

AM - 15 miles. Emigration Canyon tempo run. Needed to pound the quads a little to harden them up for TOU1/2 in two weeks. I didn't go too hard in the race yesterday, so this was a situation where back to back workout days actually made sense (ie. more time to recover today, take an ice bath, etc., as opposed to being at work). Andrea and I started at East High and ran up Sunnyside / Emigration Canyon. She turned around at the 6 mile mark and began her tempo, I went up another mile before starting back down the road. 

Splits for the 7 mile tempo were: 4:57, 4:54, 4:51, 4:49, 4:42, 4:38, 4:29.

33:20 for 7 miles, average pace = 4:45/mi. I was shooting for something in the 5-5:10 range, so this was a little quick, but did not feel overly strained. I definitely set aided PRs along the way for the last 5K (~14:20) and 10K (~29:20). I enjoy (and can run quicker on) the gradual downhill sections on Sunnyside a lot more than some of the steeper grades further up the canyon.

Felt good to let 'em fly a little bit this morning, without going too hard. I actually feel really good right now. We had a bit of a tailwind this morning on the tempo, which would be really nice to have at TOU as well! :-) 

PM - 4.4 miles easy. 

AM - 8 miles up to work, very easy.
PM - 7 miles, down to Sugarhouse to meet Andrea and ran a few miles w/ her. A little tired today, as expected.

AM - 8 miles up to work.
PM - 7.2 miles, ran home.

AM - 12 miles. Workout was 3-2-1 w/ a half mile in-between, target paces were 5:15, 5:05, and 5:00. Andrea and Emily were also there (Liberty Park) doing the same workout. Splits were 15:46, 10:14, 4:59. So, basically right where I planned to be. Not an amazing workout, but got the job done.

PM - 3.5 miles easy. 

AM - 16 miles up to work, easy (~7:45 pace)... about 8 miles w/ Andrea and Allie. Felt a little stiff, otherwise a nice run and nice to have multiple running partners! Heading up to the Uintas w/ my Dad for a couple days after lunch this afternoon. Planning on taking it pretty easy since we'll be at 10K feet.

AM - 8.2 miles
PM - 3.6 miles

Both runs were on a jeep road near Trial / Crystal lakes in the Uintas. Whew, even running easy at 10,000 feet can be a burner! Spent the day fishing some of the lakes up in that area w/ my Dad and uncles... first time I have been fishing in about 15 years. It was pretty fun and I actually caught a few trout!

AM - 6.6 miles. Another day fishing in the Uintas. 

AM - 8 miles. 5000m Time Trial on the Highland track. I wanted to get in a harder effort this weekend, but I was out of town for yesterday's races, so decided to run a time trial on the track instead. I ran 15:22.7 (on Andrea's official stopwatch), which is actually 8 seconds better than my track PR from college. I came through 3200 in 9:45, then sort of fell off the pace in the last mile... running solo is tough. I think this was a good tuneup for next weekend, and especially encouraging after eating camp food (ie. bacon and bacon-related products) for the last 3 days! :-)

PM - 4 miles easy.

Andrea and I took my Dad up to Snowbird for Oktoberfest and a scenic tram ride during the afternoon. Wispy clouds made for some cool photos. More pictures here. 

I also put up some pics from my camping trip to the Uintas. The mosquitoes are past their peak and hardly noticeable, so if you're looking for some running/hiking at 10K feet, now is the time to get up the Mirror Lake highway before the snow starts flying again!

AM - 8 miles up to work.
PM - 7.2 miles home.

My parents and sister went up to the Tetons for the week, so Andrea & I are watching their dogs. Jesse James (12 year old Bichon Frise) is a huge running fan. He attended every XC/Track meet in high school, and made his way to most college XC meets, too... running all over the courses w/ my parents and barking at all the runners. Its been a long time since he's been at a race, but he will be there at the TOU1/2 this Saturday... so if you see him, say hi!

From Jesse James

AM - 4.4 miles easy. Did not get ANY sleep last night... Jesse James was feeling sick and needed to go outside every five minutes to either poop or throw up. I'm glad I don't have kids... does it make me a jerk to say that?

PM - 6.1 miles. Andrea and I did the same workout that we did the Tuesday before Utah Valley: 2 x 1 mile on Wasatch Drive (-1% gradient). In June I ran 4:57, 4:54 (temperature in the high 60s). Today I ran 4:39, 4:31 (temperature in the mid 90s).

All things considered, a good little workout, and I feel confident that I will run a strong race at TOU this Saturday. I feel like I've made the progress that I wanted to this summer... but we'll find out in a few days. I've never run one of these famous Utah downhill 1/2s (unless you count the 2nd half of UVM, in which case my aided PR is 1:10:37). I'm also excited because my family will be there to watch.

I had absolutely no discipline on my diet today, which I'll chalk up to being up all night, and incessantly snacking to stay awake at work. Not a good thing to do, but at least its only Tuesday and I have a few days to get myself back on track and feel sharp before the weekend.

AM - 7.2 miles up to work, easy.  
PM - 4.3 miles.

AM - 5 miles easy. Its so dark out in the mornings now! I just read this blog post which I thought was a refreshingly simple point of view, especially the last couple paragraphs.
PM - 2 miles and a couple quick strides.

AM - 5 miles easy. Ran w/ Andrea. Drove my car to work for the 3rd time this week... that's the downside of a low mileage week... it almost takes me longer to drive than to just run up here!

PM - Drove up to Logan, met up w/ my family (they are on their way back from the Tetons). Staying at the super convenient Super 8... got a frosty at Wendys... feeling relatively relaxed... now its off to bed. 

I've been looking forward to Top of Utah 1/2 as a way to cap off the "summer season," and since it fell 12 weeks before Philadelphia, the timing was perfect before I start my big buildup towards the marathon. I also figured this would be a good indicator of whether I was on the right track towards the OTQ.

Pre-race logistics were easy breezy. TOU does an awesome job organizing this race.  Andrea & I got on a bus around 5:20am, hung out w/ Paul and chatted a bit at the top, and before you know it, it was time to warmup and get rolling.

I took the lead off the start... Paul and I separated from the pack immediately. Splits down the canyon were 4:48, 4:58, 5:03, 4:55, 4:51, 4:56, 4:53. We pretty much ran together... I tried to make sure the pace was honest and would set us up for sub 66. I would get a little bit ahead at times, but not by much, and by the 5-6 mile mark we were running shoulder to shoulder.

Around 7.5 miles I got a bit of a sidestitch and Paul put a little gap on me. I was probably 5 seconds behind when we hit the 8 mile marker. For the rest of the race, he maintained a 5-10 second lead. I never was quite able to make a strong enough move to close the gap.

Miles 8-10 were 4:59, 5:05, 5:06. Ten mile split was 49:35. 

Now it was uphill time. Ugh. The hill from 10.5 - 12 is not easy. I missed the 11 mile split, but I ran 10-12 in 10:39. I think it was probably around 5:15/5:25 for those two miles. Paul kept running strong up ahead.

Crested the hill and tried to take advantage of the remaining downhill, with a goal of getting under 5 minutes. I ran the last mile in 4:58 and then the last 0.1 in 28 seconds.

Official time was 1:05:40. At first I thought I could have run faster, but a few hours later my perspective has changed. I'm really happy with this result... its probably the second best performance I've ever run (other than UVM). I guess at first I was a little disappointed because I didn't feel 100% today, but all things considered, its a big step forward for me. It was also great to have my parents and sister (and their dogs) there cheering me on at the 7 mile mark and the finish line. 

After I finished, I ran back a bit to watch Andrea bring it home with another PR! Then ran about 4 miles cooldown w/ Paul and called it a day. 

Now its time to buildup for the marathon. I am excited to see what happens this fall. Its going to be a fun journey. 

There was a nice article about the race in the Herald Journal. 

Awesome awards! We weighed them on our kitchen scale when we got home... mine weighed 6 pounds! I barely have the upper body strength to pick it up :-)

AM - 13 miles. Ran w/ Andrea and then added a few more miles on. Nice and relaxed.

I put this in my race recap from yesterday, but the Herald Journal had a nice article this morning about yesterday's race: Half marathon showdown at TOU ... although I thought it was kind of funny that they referred to Andrea as "Krong's girlfriend"... considering she has won every race in sight, I think the pecking order should be the other way around!

In the afternoon we took my sister up to Alta for a short hike to Catherine's Pass. She is in town for one more day and flying back to NYC (where she lives) tomorrow. We saw a moose on the hike, which was really cool.

AM - 11 miles up to work. 
PM - 9.3 miles, meandering around the neighborhood, somehow managing to get lost and ran a little further than I intended. Started later than normal so it was a bit cooler out and I just felt fantastic. I love runs like that where you feel unexpectedly great and its simply fun to be outside running.

AM - 11.3 miles up to work. A little tired this morning... stayed up past my bedtime watching the World Championships.
PM - 8.7 miles home... winding through the neighborhoods. I thought this article about Ryan Hall that I read in Running Times today had some good insight. He has a  focus on "big" workouts (a theme I have discovered is popular on this blog), but knows its equally important to have the confidence to not "prove" yourself in workouts. I also liked the quote about responding to training, and not merely surviving it.

AM - 12.7 miles, up to work. Here's something to drool over this morning: Running in the Italian Dolomites. 
PM - 7.8 miles, easy run home. It got a little windy which made it seem less hot. I'm terrible at the Daegu time calculations, but if my math is right, the men's 5K heats should be on tonight. It will be fun to watch the master tactician Lagat do his thing.