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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
638.000.000.00
Running MilesSwimming YardsBike Miles
20.300.000.00

AM - 10.3 miles. I was planning to do a short tempo run on the "home" loop (same thing Andrea did yesterday), but I didn't sleep very well... and more importantly - I realized (3 days later) that when I cleaned my jeep on Sunday, I locked all the keys inside it (again! ahhhhh!). So, running up to work was really the only option today. An option I'll gladly take. Did ~6 miles w/ Andrea, then I went up the hill and she ran home.

PM - 10 miles home. Threw in the 2 mile + 1 mile efforts I've done a few times recently - 10:08 and 4:50. Didn't feel 100% so I didn't push it very hard at all today. Just for reference, the 2 mile is ~1.5% downhill and the mile is ~0.5% down. So its pretty easy to run those paces. Good for turning the legs over, though... and nice to get in a few quality miles during a run commute.

Now - gotta get those keys out of the jeep! 

(iPad test - Sasha made it work!)

Comments(18)
Running MilesSwimming YardsBike Miles
21.500.000.00

AM - 11.5 miles. JAAAFJ group run. ACorn joined us for the first time in a while! Split from the group ~8 miles and headed up the hill to work.

PM - 10 miles home. 

Two public service announcements...

1) Long Run @ Jeremy Ranch on Saturday morning. We'll start here at 7:30am. No guarantees on distance or pace. I'll probably run ~20 or so. Its 14.5 to the east canyon road and back - I'm guessing we'll start w/ that and add-on as people want to.

2) I have a entry to the SLC Running Company 5K (which is also Saturday morning). If anyone wants it (and the accompanying men's small t-shirt), let me know, because I'm obviously not going to be able to make it.

Comments(3)
Running MilesSwimming YardsBike Miles
21.000.000.00

AM - 14 miles up to work. Kinda dragging and asleep until I got stung by a bee about an hour into the run. It got me well above the inseam of my shorts (which are 1.5" to begin with) on the inside of my leg, so needless to say - that woke me up!

PM - 7 miles. Andrea picked up up from work b/c we had to go downtown to meet w/ the Saucony rep for a little while. Did an easy run to the horsepark and loops on the grass once we got home.

The real Olympics start today! LetsRun is doing previews for "casual fans / friends & family" - here's their rundown for day one. I also made a blog with an abbreviated version of the athletics schedule.

Here's a good link for a working live stream, much better announcers than NBC! 

Comments(32)
Running MilesSwimming YardsBike Miles
28.200.000.00

AM - 22 miles. Long run at Jeremy Ranch w/ some new faces up there... great crew this morning... Andrea, Devra, Annie, Scott, Justin, Dan, and Fritz. I think I was in the minority today, as one of the few in the group who hasn't won a major Utah marathon or half this year! A very nice run as always, just kept the pace relaxed and enjoyed it. Averaged a tad over 7 minute pace which is pretty decent up there. Less cows than last week. Maybe they are migrating somewhere else?

I'm feeling pretty strong despite (or, more likely, because of) all the higher mileage weeks. Right now I don't feel like I even ran this morning, let alone ran 22 miles. Recovery is like instantaneous at this point. 

PM - 6.2 miles in honor of Galen MF Rupp, who showed that you don't need to be born in the vicinity of the Great Rift Valley to compete on the international level on the track. A decade of hard work and not listening to the critics who doubted what he and Alberto were doing. Very inspiring! What a race!!! That is my highlight of the Olympics... unless he medals in the 5K too! :-)

Comments(29)
Running MilesSwimming YardsBike Miles
18.200.000.00

AM - 13 miles. Woke up around the 20K mark of the marathon (we correctly guessed that nothing would happen in the first hour), watched the second half of the race, then went back to sleep for a bit. Andrea and I met Allie at Liberty Park later in the morning... ran a little over 6 miles with the girls, then home from there. Lots more great track to watch this afternoon... 1500m semis, steeplechase, and the 100m!

PM - 5.2 miles easy to cap off an easy, lazy day. 

Recap of the 10K with quotes from the athletes. My favorite is from Alberto Salazar: "Back thirty years ago there weren't as many East Africans, but there still a lot of very good ones and they weren't any better than the best Europeans and Americans. I don't believe all of a sudden they were genetically better. I think a lot was psychological. I think Americans and Europeans just gave up. Another big problem I believe was there's too many people who use the excuse of drugs, that anyone who runs fast is on drugs. The second you start thinking that as a coach or as an athlete you're basically saying you're not good enough to compete with other people unless you cheat. What I've always told our guys is 'Don't believe all that bull. Those are the losers that say that.' Rather than trying to change their own training to get better they use that as excuse and it's a defeatist attitude. A lot of the mindset for us was 'We can beat these guys. We've just got to train smart.'" 

Comments(3)
Running MilesSwimming YardsBike Miles
23.000.000.00

AM - 12 miles up to work.

PM - 11 miles home with a 10K tempo run in the middle. I made a route that simulates the TOU marathon relatively well - first 3 miles are downhill, next mile has 2 good hills in it and is net uphill, then the last 2 miles are pretty much flat. I tried to run on what felt like marathon effort and didn't look at my splits until it was over. Ended up being 32:54 for 10K (5:17/mi avg). Splits - 5:14, 5:09, 5:10, 5:33, 5:23, 5:19, 1:05. Pretty funny that 5:17 pace is still locked into my legs after countless tempo runs at that pace all spring leading up to Boston. Now I just need to find a way to do that for 4X the distance in 5.5 weeks!

Great Olympics action yesterday. Shalane and Kara did pretty well. Kara has really impressed me both at the trials and the Olympics... she really hangs in there and fights, ever after she gets dropped. Bolt was sensational. Hate to see Gatlin nip out Tyson Gay, though. Felt bad for him. I can't (well, I can, but I hate it) believe NBC gives Gatlin such a free pass for being a drug cheat. Interesting that the Algerian 1500m guy is going home. Those were some good 1500m semis - Centro is looking smooth and tactically he does everything right. Same thing with Nick Willis. The finals will be really exciting.

I'll take a few days off from posting anything about Galen Rupp... after this... John Canzano's article in the Oregonian is a must-read. 

Bolt vs Phelps? :-) 

Comments(27)
Running MilesSwimming YardsBike Miles
22.500.000.00

AM - 10.5 miles up to work, slowly.

PM - 12 miles home, hotly. 

Comments(7)
Running MilesSwimming YardsBike Miles
19.500.000.00

AM - 13 miles. Warmed up 2 miles, 10 mile tempo run in 54:29 (5:27/mi avg), 1 mile cooldown w/ Andrea. Back to the old "home" tempo loop - haven't done any workouts there since around Memorial Day! The goal was ~55 minutes and stay very relaxed. This is slower than I did a lot of tempos in the spring, but that was my plan. CIM is almost 4 months away - I don't need to be running at goal marathon pace right now. Cranking out 5:15 pace runs looks good on paper, but I'm not sure it would really be of any benefit at this point. In fact it would probably be counter-productive. As I was telling some of the guys on the last long run, I want to come into the TOU Marathon feeling like my fitness is at about 85% - in good aerobic shape, but also leaving plenty of room for improvement between TOU and CIM. I don't want to feel "peaked" in September and then just be hanging on the rest of the year. Hopefully a little patience now will go a long way.

Splits - 5:38, 5:37, 5:29, 5:24, 5:25, 5:22, 5:19, 5:23, 5:25, 5:26
. Miles 6 & 7 got a little quicker, so rather than keep dropping it down and hammering 5:05s to finish it out, I backed off. It actually felt really good to make the end of the run easier.

Drove up to work to do another major food/clothes re-stocking, and had the pleasure of heckling James on Foothill. Great morning! :-)

PM - 6.5 miles and then went to Andrea's bike race and took some pics. She is the queen of the SLC Corporate Olympics! Wheeler Farm is such a weird place - chickens everywhere!

 

Comments(18)
Running MilesSwimming YardsBike Miles
25.500.000.00

AM - 15.5 miles up to work. Felt pretty good.

PM - 10 miles home. Threw in a 3 mile tempo in 15:10 (5:08, 5:02, 5:00). First half of the tempo route from Monday (the downhill part). Just cruising. Not as hot today so it felt easier. 

AMAZING Men's 800m finals just went down at the Olympics - best 800m of all-time, and I don't think there is ANY disputing that! I won't post the results - but just find a way to watch it later if you didn't see it live.

FYI - the new Utah marathon in October, which has been added to the circuit, has a $20 off promotion going on right now. So the 5K is only $15 to register. If you sign up, use the code "BESTLEGS" ... I also made a team (Fast Running Blog) that anyone can join. I'm not sure if there is any point to being on a team, but it will be fun if there is a team competition and we kick some butt. [I'm not getting a kickback by posting this, I just figured $35 was crazy for a 5K, but $15 is quite reasonable!]

Comments(9)
Running MilesSwimming YardsBike Miles
21.000.000.00

AM - 11 miles up to work. 

PM - 10 miles home. 

So now I can post something about Rudisha, right?! HOLY FREAKING SMOKES!!! That was simply brilliant running. I feel lucky to have seen it live. Science of Sport has an interesting recap and analysis. Cool to see Usain Bolt complete the double again, too. Today's action will be good - Women's 1500m and 5000m finals. Really pulling for Morgan Uceny! Dibaba will be going for another 5K/10K double and legend status.


Comments(15)
Race: Dash for Donation (3.3 Miles) 00:16:20, Place overall: 1
Running MilesSwimming YardsBike Miles
21.000.000.00

I decided a few days ago to jump in the Dash for Donation "5K" in Sugar House Park - close to home and for a really good cause... I ran on the team that Rachelle's family had put together.

My plan for the morning was to put in a solid effort during the race, then add on another tempo run on the track where I'd practice drinking while running at marathon pace. Ran 4 miles up to the park for a warmup and was feeling a bit tired from another big week of miles and 3 tempo runs in the past 5 days. I started thinking that I might be lucky to even run MP during the race!

There was a big turnout and the race started about 15 minutes late... no big deal. Once we got going I actually felt surprisingly good. There wasn't any competition after the first 100 meters, so it was a solo effort. The course was 2 laps around SHP, then some extra... it was a bit long... I hate to say that... but I run in SHP enough to know how far 5K is, and they added a bonus 0.2 for us today :-) Everyone knows what this loop looks like except BAM, so here's the course profile:

I hit the first mile in 4:57. Needless to say that was a surprise and I didn't feel like it was very tough. Miles 2 and 3 were 5:02 and 4:55. During the second mile I started to lap the field (most of whom were walking) so I did a lot of weaving! The final stretch was 1:26, so obviously not 0.1, because that usually takes me less than 30 seconds in a 5K... and I was moving pretty good.

So my 3 mile split was 14:54, which I was really happy about. With the rolling hills, I figure that 3 miles in SHP is about approximately equivalent to what you can run for a full 5K on the track. Averaging sub-5 pace in SHP is usually pretty tough to do.

After finishing the race I jogged over to the Highland HS track and started the second part of the workout - 5K at marathon pace taking a drink of gatorade every other lap. Andrea came over with me and handed me bottles. I figured that I need to practice drinking while moving at race pace. I could eat a sandwich at 7:00 pace on long runs, but I need to be able to process fluids while running significantly faster than that. I did the 5K tempo in 16:45 (5:23, 5:24, 5:19, 38). 

When that was finally done we headed back over to the post-race area and had to choose between the 8 different types of ice cream novelties that were offered. I went with a Drumstick and was very satisfied with that choice!

We hung out with Rachelle (she finished 2nd place overall) and her family for a bit, then I ran 3.5 miles home.

Overall a good confidence booster this morning. I've been feeling very good about the TOU Marathon, but I've been unsure of how the TOU 1/2 is going to feel... whether I can take a reasonable shot at running as fast as I did last year. Now I think sub 1:06 might be in the cards again.

Andrea took a bunch of pictures...

Start of the race with crazy heel-striker guy on the right. He was ahead of me until 100m and they he came to a complete stop...

Coming into the finish area...

And then onto the post-race track workout... 

More photos here: Dash for Donation. Andrea is getting pretty good with her new camera!

[AM - 14 miles total]

PM - 7 miles after a fun Weber River tubing adventure with Andrea and Allie! 

Comments(22)
Running MilesSwimming YardsBike Miles
26.000.000.00

AM - 22 miles. Up early to watch the marathon, back to sleep for a couple hours, then drove up to Jeremy Ranch for the long run. Pretty much the same thing as last week but a few minutes faster. Out & back to the East Canyon road, grabbed my bottle and gel, then out & back to the Morgan Country gate. The hardest part about doing 22 this way is that you hit the end of the run at 21 miles, so you have to mentally get past the desire to stop and do one more 1/2 mile out & back. I do this on purpose to make myself suffer a bit :-)

Lots of fast looking (ie. skinny and scantily clad) runners out there this morning. Put down 12 oz of Gatorade and 1 gel during the run - I feel like my stomach is getting better at handling it... and I'm actually looking forward to the point in the run where I get some sugar!

How about Meb?! Good quotes from him on Letsrun's recap.

PM - 4 mile jog. 

Comments(9)
Running MilesSwimming YardsBike Miles
22.500.000.00

AM - 10.5 miles up to work. The 8-minute guy put the smackdown on me this morning.

PM - 12 miles home. 

I think this is my favorite picture from the Olympics...

 

Comments(9)
Running MilesSwimming YardsBike Miles
24.500.000.00

AM - 14 miles up to work.

PM - 10.5 miles home. Was able to coordinate w/ AdamRW (the buildings we work in are about 400m apart) for the run commute. Having some company in the afternoon just makes the miles fly by! 

I haven't read Waterlogged yet (has anyone?)... iRunFar posted a good Q&A w/ Tim Noakes that I found pretty interesting. Its on the reading list.

Comments(32)
Running MilesSwimming YardsBike Miles
24.000.000.00

AM - 14 miles. 2 mile warmup, 11 mile tempo in 60:16 (5:29/mi average), 1 mile cooldown. Pretty much the same thing as last week - I was targeting 60-61 minutes, so right on the money. Right about the 9 mile mark, I came around the corner and Andrea was there on her bike... a nice surprise! So I had some company (and was able to take some sips of Gatorade) for the last couple miles. Splits - 5:39, 5:39, 5:30, 5:29, 5:33, 5:22, 5:23, 5:26, 5:24, 5:25, 5:26. Another nice controlled effort. Although maybe a little too relaxed for the first 2 miles... I need to remember that this isn't the women's 1500m Olympic final... you can't just totally jog :-)

An hour is about the perfect length for a tempo run, mentally. 

PM - 10 miles. Really easy, just a pure mental health run. Had a stressful end of the day and lots of loops on the grass around the horsepark did the trick of resetting my head.

Comments(18)
Running MilesSwimming YardsBike Miles
21.700.000.00

AM - 10.7 miles up to work.

PM - 11 miles home with some efforts thrown in - 3 miles in 15:13 (5:12, 5:02, 4:59; same route as last Thursday)... couple miles steady, then 1 mile in 4:51 (Home Depot mile). 

I have a co-worker who is looking for a Wasatch 100 pacer - Brighton to the finish. Originally I was going to help her out, but I can't really do it since its a week before TOU. If any of you trail folks are looking to get out there, or know someone who might be interested, let me know.

Comments(3)
Running MilesSwimming YardsBike Miles
22.300.000.00

AM - 15 miles up to work. Had to give it an honest effort in the last mile once I realized what time it was and that I had a meeting at 8am. Scrambled into the building, took a super-quick shower (good thing I don't have to dry my hair)... and none of the MDs showed up for the meeting... FRIDAY!!!

My parents are driving up from Arizona today and my aunt/uncle are on their way here from California. They'll all be here for the next week... they rented a place in the Heber Valley... so we'll be spending some time up in the Uintas, etc. I'm headed out that way this afternoon until Wednesday. Really looking forward to some time in cool air and cold water!

PM - 7.3 miles home

I got my bloodwork done yesterday (follow up to the last time I did this back in January). Despite the increased workload (volume and intensity) I've put on my body, everything actually looks better. The big thing I was interested in was my iron level, and while they were very good to begin with, my ferritin is now over 100. Thyroid stuff was perfect, kidney function (another thing I worry about w/ the high mileage in hot weather) was also better than in January. So... I guess I'm doing OK. I figured as much, but its still nice to have some concrete numbers to back that up.

 
(Reference ranges are from elite male marathon runners)

Comments(14)
Running MilesSwimming YardsBike Miles
18.000.000.00

AM - 12 miles. 3 up, 10K Tempo in 32:31 (5:14/mile avg), 3 down. Did this workout a little east of Heber on the roads - the elevation ~6000 feet made it a little tougher than I expected. I was thinking ~32 flat would be a good time for this workout, but then I remembered that workouts at 6K are harder than easy long runs at 6K! I like how all the "blocks" out here are almost exactly 1 mile long. Zig-zagged back and forth so the miles alternated b/w gradual downhill and flat/uphill as you can tell by the splits. The first half-mile had a good amount of downhill - I didn't go out too fast and fall apart :-) Andrea biked with me so that made the run pretty nice. Now off for a fun day w/ the family.

Splits - 5:02, 5:25, 5:17, 5:09, 5:06, 5:24, 1:07.

PM - 6 miles

Comments(9)
Running MilesSwimming YardsBike Miles
22.300.000.00

AM - 17 miles. Early morning run on the country roads in Heber and Midway with Rob M. Quiet, cool, really nice morning. Then I went for a short walk with my parents and jogged another 3 minutes w/ Andrea.

PM - 5.3 miles

Some pics from the weekend so far...

 

 

From August 2012 Parents Visit

 

Comments(8)
Running MilesSwimming YardsBike Miles
19.500.000.00

AM - 12 miles. First 7 easy, then 3 mile tempo in 14:59 (gradual downhill towards Heber on 1200S), then 2 more easy. Sort of an unplanned faster segment... Felt pretty relaxed and not too hard, despite wearing my heavy shoes :-) Splits - 5:02, 5:03, 4:53. PM - 7.5 miles easy... my Mom biked along with me... very enjoyable conversation and the run flew by. We spent the day up at Mirror Lake and Trial Lake. I caught a fish on my very first cast and then got skunked for the next 5 hours! Fun time... although it was FREEZING up there! Always bring a down jacket to the Uintas if you are skinny. I introduced my family to the Maverik $1 adventure cones on the way back :-)

Comments(13)
Running MilesSwimming YardsBike Miles
19.500.000.00

AM - 12.5 miles. The old guys went fly fishing this morning so I slept in, then did my "pre-TOU 1/2" tune-up workout. Started with 5.5 mi warmup, then did 3 x 1 mile (1/2 mi jog), finished with a 3 mi cooldown. The faster miles were on the same stretch I did the tempo yesterday - downhill on 1200S in Heber. Splits were 4:35, 4:32, 4:30. Purely a neuromuscular session to get the legs used to turning over quicker. I still have no idea what to expect this weekend, but that actually makes it a bit more fun and exciting.

Ate lunch at Tarahumara in Midway on Rob's recommendation... great food! I usually am not a big fan of eating out, so if I think a place is worth mentioning, it must be pretty good. 

PM - 7 miles. EASY jogging while Andrea rode the bike.

PM2 - Bowled a 132/103 double. Not really too impressive!

 

Comments(15)
Running MilesSwimming YardsBike Miles
15.500.000.00

AM - 12.5 miles up to work, slow slow slow.

PM - 3 miles around the block. I was going to actually take the afternoon off, but I just felt tight after sitting at my desk and needed to shake the legs out a bit before rolling out and stretching. Definitely my shortest run in a long time.

Spent some time this afternoon showing my family around SLC. We went up to the observation deck on top of the Temple Square administrative building, which is a really cool place to see the whole city.

Some Uintas pics from earlier in the week... there is no water left in Trial Lake!

Comments(8)
Running MilesSwimming YardsBike Miles
14.500.000.00

AM - 9 miles up to work. Slow and easy again... bottling it up for the weekend.

PM - 5.5 miles down to SHP, where Andrea picked me up. Threw in 6 x 1/4 mile (1/4 mi jog) along the way... I'm not going to get into the business of trusting the Garmin for quarter-mile splits, but just for the sake of record keeping the splits were 73, 73, 74, 70, 68, 69. Roughly half-marathon effort. Essentially the easiest "workout" ever :-)

Couple good links from Runner's World yesterday. I liked Nancy Clark's quote in their article about healthy eating - “You don’t have to have a perfect diet to have a good diet. If 90 percent is quality and 10 percent is whatever, that’s fine.” I agree with that! I know it probably seems like I go by solely on ice cream and diet dew, but that actually isn't the case. I like that 90/10 idea... maybe its more like 80/20 for me, but whatever!

The other one I thought I'd share is an interview with Pete Magill - who is an absolute STUD masters runner (sub 15 5Ks at 50+ years old). He's making his marathon debut at Twin Cities in October. The whole interview is definitely worth a quick read, but this was my favorite part...

Why now for your first attempt at the distance?

PM: I could give you an idealistic answer about climbing every mountain. But the truth is, after six national masters cross country titles, and numerous American age-group records, I get tired of people suggesting I’m not a real distance runner because I haven’t run a marathon. The chairman of U.S. Masters Long Distance Running holds this belief. Even the magazine I write for, Running Times—maybe you’ve heard of it?—last year didn’t include me in its age-group rankings, even though I had the fastest 50-plus 5K and 10K times ever for an American in the age division. I consider it my duty to show we 5K/10K and cross country runners can run marathons if we choose to. I’m really tired of my neighbor, who’s run 5:30 or 6:00 for the marathon, telling me that if I trained harder I could do marathons. 

Comments(35)
Running MilesSwimming YardsBike Miles
8.000.000.00

AM - 6 miles, easy.

PM - 2 miles even easier. Shake out jog from Scott's house to the mouth of Providence Canyon and back.

TOU 1/2 tomorrow morning. Last year my goals were to run 1:05-something and win the race. I met one of those objectives. So I think I'll keep the targets the same for this time around. 

Here are some pre-race thoughts that I want to get down now, so my race report isn't 10 pages long... and some of this is for my own benefit - it helps me look at things objectively.

My training has been quite a bit different this summer than in 2011. Last summer I was doing consistent speed workouts throughout July/August, raced a decent amount, and came into TOU 1/2 tapered and sharp. I didn't have an "A+" day, and Paul ran a really nice race to beat me soundly, but it was still a great cap to the summer and launched me on the path to run 1:05:45 at Long Beach in October. [2011 TOU 1/2 Report]

This summer I've basically just been logging lots of miles, kept things very unstructured for most of the time, having fun and not thinking too hard about running - rather than think about it - I've just been doing it, listening to what the body says feels right. I think I accomplished what I set out to do during these months. Mentally and physically I feel really good. Only in the past 2-3 weeks has some real intensity been added back into the mix. I was looking over my log last night... while I knew that my overall volume of running has been higher this summer, I didn't quite realize the extent of what I've done recently - 145, 160, 156, 158, 155 the last 5 weeks (I don't feel like I've been running that much, though!). My overall volume is up ~65% in the 10 days before the race this year compared to last year, so not much of a taper this year (but that is somewhat by design, as the TOU Marathon is only 3 weeks away and I can't really cut back too much yet)...

Looking at those numbers got me curious about how much volume I did leading up to other "target" half-marathons (and I threw in the PHX 15K because that was my competitive tune-up race before Boston). Clearly, I cut back a lot more leading up to 2011 TOU 1/2, Long Beach, and Duluth...

This last month leading up to tomorrow has been most similar (again, in terms of volume) to the Phoenix race, where I ran really well (one of my top races all-time), but still about 10-15% higher. Luckily I have a very extravagant spreadsheet with lots of data that pumps out all kinds of tables and graphs with only a few clicks...

In terms of workouts - the thing I love about the track is that it tells you exactly where you stand and it gives me a very good idea of what to expect in races. Well, I've stayed off the track the entire summer (by design) and my road workouts have been on different routes than I've used in the past (again, by design). I've sort of just mixed most of them into my run commuting back and forth from work. So I have no predicted-performance "indicators" - I'm just going to go out tomorrow, run as fast as I can, and see what happens. It will be an interesting case study (n=1) to see what the results of this kind of training (ie. super-high volume, even by my standards, not much cut-back this week, and low-key approach to the workouts over the past month in general) end up being for this half-marathon, and how my performance shapes up compared to last year. I think its perfectly reasonable to expect to be under 50 minutes at ten miles, but as everyone who has run this course knows, the difference between a good and great race at TOU 1/2 is how you run miles 11 and 12.

In any case, the marathon in 3 weeks is my BIG target, and tomorrow's run will give me the best idea of what kind of time I should be targeting.

Comments(20)
Race: Top of Utah Half Marathon (13.1 Miles) 01:06:03, Place overall: 1
Running MilesSwimming YardsBike Miles
21.000.000.00

Great morning at one of my all-time favorite races... got the win and ran what I feel like was a pretty respectable time considering my recent training (more detail on yesterday's entry: pre-race thoughts). I feel like I am setting myself up to run a good marathon in 3 weeks. And I'm not tied for last place (with zero points) on the circuit anymore :-)

I rode up to the start with Adam and Scott (who was kind enough to let us crash at his place last night). It was chilly up in the staging area - a good sign! I hope its equally cool, if not downright cold, for the marathon. Adam, Clyde and I ran a few miles to warmup, I did some strides, and it was time to roll.

About 4 guys (Riley, Ben, Ken) were with me off the start, but after about a 1/2 mile I could feel that I had put a bit of a gap on everyone and couldn't here anymore footsteps behind me. Now it was a 12.5 mile solo time trial.

Down the canyon I just tried to keep an even effort. I wore my cheap Timex watch instead of the Garmin, because this race has 100% accurate mile markers and I really wanted to try and run on feel and what felt like a sustainable effort level. I didn't get out of the gate at a sub 4:50 clip like last year, which was smart. But without anyone to push me (ie. Paul right on my shoulder) the pace was a little slower in the first half of the course. That was fine with me. After the 5 mile mark the famous tailwind made an appearance, and during the mile #7 it was very noticeable and nice. Afterwards I asked the race directors to be sure to arrange that same wind for the marathon. 

My splits from this year and 2011 are below... as you can see - I was about 20 seconds slower in the first 6 miles of the race this year, but then ran nearly identical splits the rest of the way (which is actually pretty cool). Running 1:06 by yourself (especially on the second half of that course) is not an easy task so I'm happy with what I did today. It felt very good to cross the finish line first this time around.

Mile     2011 2012  Net +/-
1 4:48 4:54 +6
2 4:58 4:57 +5
3 5:03 5:04 +6
4 4:55 5:01 +12
5 4:51 4:55 +16
6 4:56 4:59 +19
7 4:53 4:53 +19
8 4:59 4:59 +19
9 5:05 5:05 +19
10 5:06 5:06 +19
11 5:14 5:13 +18
12 5:25 5:26 +19
13 4:58 5:00 +21
13.1 0:28 0:28 +21
Finish 1:05:40 1:06:03

Andrea and my parents were at mile 7, 10.5, and 13. It was great to have their support out there because its an otherwise very lonely (albeit scenic, wonderful, and somewhat challenging) course. That hill from 10.5 to 12 is a tough grind. 

So overall I'm pleased with the performance and where this tells me I'm at. My legs didn't have that "snappy / springy" feel - but there is no way I could have expected them to. I feel very strong, though, and that is what will really matter over 26.2. I'm confident I will round into even better racing form over the next couple weeks.

Somewhere out there... 

Top 5 dudes...

With the family after the race... we need to teach Jesse to look at the camera...

I even was able to get my picture taken with high school superstar Conner Mantz... I'm glad I don't run cross-country and don't have to race him! :-)

Lots of great running by the blog today. Way to go everyone! Andrea took a lot of photos and was able to get some finish line shots: 2012 Top of Utah Half Marathon

[AM - 17 miles total - 2+ up, 13 race, 2+ down]

PM - 4 miles easy. Andrea biked along w/ me. We realized partway through the run that this was the first time I ever won a half-marathon. 

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AM - 16 miles. Purposely started out really easy and then after 5-6 miles I started to feel pretty good and by the last couple miles my legs forgot that I raced yesterday. No residual soreness, probably since I didn't push it out quite as hard on the downhills. That being said, I'm still sitting in the ice bucket right now and not taking any chances.

Lots of bloggers were mentioned in the Herald-Journal recap of the race

PM - 6.5 miles. Loop around the block w/ Andrea, then 5 more. Lazy day... we just didn't feel like getting in the car to do anything or go anywhere. We did manage to walk the 30 steps out to the pool and floated around for a long time :-)

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AM - 13 miles up to work.

PM - 12 miles home.

Two easy, enjoyable runs today. I know everyone usually starts to look forward to fall about this time of year, but to a certain extent I'm going to miss the hot summer afternoons. Obviously everyone who knows me realizes that I tend to gravitate towards the extremes - hence the highest mileage blocks of the year during the coldest part of winter and hottest part of summer. I like the challenge of it. I guess the challenge in the perfect fall weather will simply be to run faster

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AM - 13 miles up to work. Finally registered for the TOU marathon!

PM - 12 miles home with a little tempo effort thrown in the middle to stretch out the legs - 3 miles in 16:00 (5:24, 5:21, 5:15).

Non-running related, but this trailer for MILE... MILE & A HALF put a big smile on my face when I watched it (several times) yesterday. Brought back a lot of great memories of summer 2010... I wanna go back...

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AM - 13 miles up to work. Yes, I've run the same route up to work 3 days in a row. Finally broke out one of my blinking safety lights... I've accepted that its dark in the mornings again and I don't want/need to get hit by a car.

PM - 11 miles home. And so ends the last stretch of "run as much as you want"... I actually have some mileage limits for the next 2.5 weeks :-0 With races the next two weekends, that will force me to cut it back and rest the legs. I'm excited!

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AM - 8 miles up to work. First mile w/ Andrea, turned the corner and crossed paths with Fritz - he ran up to Sunnyside w/ me. Nice to have some company this morning!

You could feel the wind absolutely whipping out of Emigration and Red Butte Canyons from a mile away - Blacksmith Fork: I hope you are taking notes... 

PM - 4.5 miles down to SHP, where Andrea picked me up. Did 2 miles in 9:58 (5:04, 4:54) along the way on the usual downhill route. Almost got taken out by a school bus.

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AM - 6 miles. Ran 5 around campus, did some tests at the PEAK center, then another mile back up the hill to HCI. 

PM - 2 miles shakeout. 

We have a really good wellness program thorugh the U - by participating in a few easy things, we get a massive discount on health insurance premiums (essentially making it no cost). Today I did the Bod-Pod (measures % body fat) and resting metabolic rate tests.

Last year's Bod-Pod test had me at 1.5% body fat, which was obviously way off. This year - even worse! For a machine that costs more than a brand new car, its amazing how inaccurate it is at the extremes (ie. very lean or very heavy people). They ran the test 5 times and the average was 0.1% body fat :-)  Ahhhh I think I'd be dead if that was anywhere near accurate. The Bod-Pod manufacturers like to say that the margin of error is 1-2%, but that is across groups of people... in individuals, it can be off by 5-6%... so add that 6% on for me and I think that is probably a more accurate number.

 

Then I did the RMR test - where you just breathe into a tube for 10 minutes. Its very boring! That one said that at rest, I burn 1728 calories per day. That seems to make sense.

Overall, the only real piece of worthwhile information I got out of these tests is that I'm ~6 pounds lighter than at this time last year... but I was already well aware of that fact - Andrea reminds me every day :-) I also tried to get them to test my cholesterol for free... no luck on that request, though. 

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