EXTREME MAKEOVER 2012

Today I met Michelle in the Spansh Fork River Bottoms and she gave me my first real experience with speed work!!!!!!!!!  HOLY &*%*$(#)@)@@!(**!!!!  And what ever other word you can think of.  I am not going to post the split's because I am at work and don't have my watch to see. I know that we were under 2:59 each one that we ran.   So you will have to read her blog to see the times.  I know that the first one was WAY to fast, but I  was just following her lead and trying to stay with her.  When we finished the first one she said "that was stupid"!!!  It was dark so I couldn't see how fast we were running.  But I knew that it felt really fast.  I would have to say that I did learn a lot and look forward to learing more from her and the rest of the people on this blog.  I feel like a gained a lot of confidence today...  I don't think that I will do speed work every week, more like every other week. 

Went to bed late last night, so it was painful getting out of bed @ 4:45!!! I had to be to work early this morning so it meant running earlier. I left my house and went down to Woodland Hills Dr and Run up to the mail boxes. I needed to run slow today so I knew the only way that would happen is if I ran hills. From the mail boxes I ran across the top to Elk Ridge Dr, turned around and ran down Loafer Canyon Rd and then home. Legs felt really heavy today. I think that I am still feeling the Tuesday work out!! Left calf has been sore, so I wore my compression sock on that leg this morning and it felt better. No real pain to even speak of. 7:37 Pace today.. I am planning on running 9-10 miles in the mountains today with a buddy! Should be HOT!!!!

Well the 10 miles above Provo was very, very HOT!  We started at Indian Peak Trai Head and ran across the top to Bridal Veil and then down the Asphalt trail and back to the trucks. Dan and I are contractors and so we always have to pack our cell phones on our runs so that we can work and run at the same time.  The first 3 miles took forever because Dan was on the phone quite a bit.  After that we got into a good pace the rest of the way.  I am looking forward to a nice cool run on Saturday.

Today was my turn for the afternoon run, however my wifes running partner bummed out on her @ 5:30.  So she asked if I wanted to go for the morning shift.  I gladly said SURE!!  I only had enough time to run 10k, but it was a hard 10k.  The last 2 miles are flat so I tried to hold a 6:20.  I actually was able to hold a 6:10.  Legs felt a little heavy today, I think that it is from the long weekend.

Ave Pace 7:27...

This morning I couldn't decide if I wanted to run fast or just take it easy.  For the past 5 weeks I have tried to do a tempo run at Marathon Pace, starting with 5 miles.  And then every week try and add a mile to the run until I hit 10 miles.  I decided that today was a perfect morning to do the 10 mile tempo run.  My goal for the Marathon this year is to finish under 3:00hrs.  So to hit a 2:59:00 is a 6:50 pace?? I think??  I started with a 1 mile warm up and then gradually hit 7:00 by mile 1 of the tempo run and then the rest of the run I was able to hold my pace at 6:50 - 6:54 for the remainder of the tempo run.  Between 6 and 9 I felt like I could have sped up and held even a faster pace :) but I held back to the goal time and really wanted to finish the run strong.  I felt like I could have ran more at that pace, but then again maybe I would have bonked at mile 11?  I finsihed with a 1 mile cool down and then headed up to Park City for my weekly meeting with UDOT.  I did see Pat L this morning and we gave each other five as we passed each other.  He is a great guy, I hope that I can still run strong like him when I am his age.  I might continue up to 13 miles on the tempo run?  Or maybe start over at 5 and try and lower my time?  Any suggestions????  Over all it was a great run and a very confident one!

Today was a very nice and relaxing run!!!  I didn't even wear my watch, I strictly went off what Michelle and Ali were running.  The run went by really fast!! It helps to run and talk with people.

My wife and I went out for a birthday party last night, so I met her ather office in S.F.  I was going to get my truck on the way home and of course got all of the way home in Salem and realized that I had forgot my truck.  It was late and she said let's go back and get it.  I said no I will just run to your office in the morning and get it.  I needed to make it a quick run this morning because of a early meeting that I have every Thursday.  So I decided that I was going to start at a 7:30 pace and then not look at my watch and try to speed up slightly after each mile.  In Boston my watch quit working for about 6 miles, so me being a rookie runner had no idea on what pace I was running.  So I need to get better at listening to my body..  So here is how it went..

Mile 1 - 7:23

Mile 2 - 7:00

Mile 3 - 6:54

Mile 4 - 6:52

Mile 5 - 6:50

Mile 6 - 6:47

Mile 7 - 6:39

Ave Pace 6:55

It was hard not to look at the watch just to check at each mile, but I did refrain and luckily it turned out.  Everything felt great this morning, leg's, breathing etc..  I am excited for the Speedy 10k on the 24th...

Speed work 6 800's

2:43

2:45

2:43

2:46

2:45

2:43

Ran with Shawn W, he had a little muscle cramp at mile 4.  Slowed down for couple of miles, but then picked the pace up.  Average pace 7:37

Even though my last 2 weeks have not showed any miles I have actually been running quite a bit.  I just got a little lazy with entering my miles.  On Wednesday morning I was getting out of bed to go to work and my left calf tighened up on me and was sore all day.  Then around 2:00 my right calf tightened up on me and hurt really bad.  I iced and applied some deep blue and peppermint oils to my calves all day.  We went to the rodea and the only thing i could think about us how sad i was that i wasn't going to run on Thursday morning.  When we got home from the rodeo I made my own Strassburg? sock out of duct tape.  Basically I ran tape from my toes to my knee's.  I had a hard time sleeping but when i woke up and took the tape off my calves did feel a little better.  When I went to turn my watch on it would not even power up.  I felt like something was telling me to STAY HOME!!  I had decided that I was going to run with my wife and just take it easy.  I ran a little before the start and my calves had only a little pain, so I decided that i would try and stay with Pat and Kent, until I had to stop or slow way down.  Every step hurt along the way.  Tom was very nice to keep yelling out split's for me.  It was really weird not running with a watch, but kind of a confidence builder as well.  I felt like I took the race a little easy, only had one stomach cramp from mile 3-5 that I had to breathe through.  I think that it was fromm all of the gatorade I had drank the day before trying to loosen up those calves.  I felt really good from 5-6 so I decided to kick the last .2!  It felt really good, I am very excited about my time.  this is only my second 10k last year my time was 42:14 so a new pr for me.  Tom was great to run with, I hope to run some speed work outs with him.  Thanks again Tom for letting me cheat off of your watch.  Oh and when I got home my watch decided to turn on!!!!  What a wierd DAY!!!

7 miles in the evening, pushing son Jack

ave pace 7:14

2 warm up miles and then did a 2 mile run, first mile 5:59 2nd mile 5:52, 4 minute jog and then another 2 mile 1st mile 6:01 2nd mile 5:53. Stomach really upset during last 1/2 mile, 2 mile cool down and then off to Park City by 6:00 am.  It was an early 4:30 am start.  Right calf is still a little tight.

5:30 am start.  I kind of ran all over Salem this morning, calf is still a bit tender but I can tell it is getting better.

ave pace 7:08

I ran the west entrance loop into Elk Ridge.  from my house to the top you climb abot 650 feet in elevation in just 5 miles. My calf felt great tonight even on the steep down hill of loafer cyn.

ave pace 7:09