A clydesdale no more!

Didn't exercise at all yesterday because: my knee was bothering me, had an early morning ortho appt for my kids, chaperoned a field trip, busy with work, soccer game, orchestra concert, etc.  Figured that my list of excuses was big enough that I could justify a day off.  I have made a lot of poor food choices this week which has left me feeling very heavy and bloated.  DIdn't think I would be able to keep up with Tara this morning.  Did the usual LPT run and we were both quite surprised to see that the average pace was 7:42/mile.  I guess that's a good sign. 

One of the most unevenbtful pacing jobs I've had.  I didn't have anybody run with me for the entire race.  Makes me wonder if it really even happened.  My first mile was a liitel fast.  That gave me a 15 second cushion that I held for most of the race.  The 7th mile contains the "sprintosaurus" which is a special award for the fastest half mile. Since I wasn't running with anybody I decided to push the pace.  DIdn't go all out but it was close.  Ran the half mile in 2:30.  At the end of this stretch, I stopped and waited 90 seconds to get back on track.  From here to the end I was within a couple of seconds of where I was supposesd to be at every mile marker.  Ran the last mile a little faster so I would have a bufferr in case the course didn't measure correctly.
 

Worked until 2 am then was up at 5 to start again.  I was utterly exhausted.  Went to the gym and puttered around.  Not my best effort.  I figured half ***** was better than no *****. 

Met Tara and Kam at the LPT.  Run included a loop around Bountiful pond then a few miles on the LPT. 

A mile run at Firehouse.

One run plus some sprints at Firehouse.

Warmed up by running 2 miles to the LPT then ran 6 repeats of 1 minute on and 3 minutes off.  Averaged 5:35/mile for the "on" minute.  A little faster than I should have run it but figured I should push the pace since it was so short and I was getting full recovery.  This was just a way to let my body know that it is time to get out of the lolly gagging rut.

Good total body workout at Firehouse including one run.

Tough run today.  Met Tara at LPT and it was chilly.  It has to warm up to shorts and short sleeve shirt running weather eventually.  First 2 miles were a little faster than we usually start (8:00/mile) and it took way too much effort.  The pace got progressively faster throughout the run.  I think we had a 7:30, 7:20 a couple of 7:10's and a 7:00.  It was at that point that Tara decided to make it interesting.  Last 2 miles were around 6:40/mile.  She dropped the hammer with 1/2 mile to go and I was unable to respond.  I held it around 6:40ish but she must have been around 6:20ish. Finsihed with 9 miles at 7:15/mile pace.  This is the exact type of run that I need to start doing in order to get used to the quicker pace again.

Mostly cardio work at Firehouse including 2 runs.  Decent push during the first, not so much during the second.

Met Tara at the LPT for a long run.  Despite the questions regarding it's accuracy, I broke down and bough a Garmin 620. Debated between the 910 and 620 and decided that the features on the 620 were more my style.  It has a lot of "gee whiz" stats that I will probably never use but really drew me in since I am a numbers guy.  The only issue during the run was that the auto-pause went haywire halfway into the run.  This kind of messed up my total distance compared to what Tara had.  Checked the route on Garmin Connect and was happy to see that my path followed the trail and road perfectly.  The run itself was very good.  We started at 8:00/mile and progressively got faster.  Last mile was 7:00/mile and the overall average was 7:45/mile (I think). 

The answer to the question during the run is: "a piece of legislation enacted by a municipal authority."

Met Kam and one of his daughters at the LPT. He was running to liberty park and I was going to join him for a few miles. Thought that if I felt good I would run to downtown SLC and take the front runner back home and if I didn't feel well then I would just put a few in. Pace felt surprisingly good. He was running a little faster than I expected but it still felt great. Pace was a little faster on the trail and slowed once started meandering through town. Averaged 7:55 for 11.8 miles. Took the train back home and had to run 2.2 miles from the train station to my car. Averaged 7:40 for the bonus miles. 

Warmed up by running 2 miles to the LPT then ran 6 repeats of 1 minute on and 2 minutes off.  The "on" miles ranged from 5:29/mile to 5:38/mile with an average of 5:34.  Not as consistent as I would like but a good run nonetheless.

The GPS on my watch didn't track very well during the first mile but was fine the rest of the run.  This run provided a good comparison of the running efficiency numbers for the high end and low end of my pace range.

One mile at Firehouse.  Feeling some tightness in my shins from a few too many miles last week.  I've always thought I was too good for the 10% rule. 

Met Tara at the LPT for the usual tempo Tuesday run. We decided that we would run our normal pace for the first few miles then finish with 2 miles at tempo pace.  She suggested 6:30 and I thought there was no way I could approach that speed.  Our first "fast"mile was 6:43 according to my watch and 6:39 according to hers.  The discrepancy is due to the tunnel and I don't know whose is correct.  The last mile was 6:28.  I started to feel it towards the end and I inadvertently abruptly stopped as soon as I hit the mile marker.  Tara continued on to finish the full nine miles.  Happy with the effort and pace.

Good workout at Firehouse included a 1 mile run.  I think I am coming down with something.  A little feverish and feeling wiped out.

3 short runs at Firehouse.  I think I overdid it a little last week between the running and gym so am not pushing as hard this week.  I forget that I need to be patient when increasing mileage and intensity.

My original plan was to run the downhill miles of this race hard then coast the last 4 miles to the finish.  Still not in race shape but wanted some harder miles.  Plans changed when one of the pacers dropped out.  Considered running the 1:40 for the girls race but thought it would be better to have only ladies pacing the ladies race.  I ended up pacing the 2 hour group.  It was a super small race with separate start times for the guys and girls so I ended up running solo again.  There probably weren't more than 50 guys running.  I think I spent a total of 2 minutes with another runner.  I was a minute early because the course was 0.1 short due to the start line being moved (shocking for a On Hill race).

A rare morning where neither Becky or I had our kids so we did the elephant rock run. She was still a little worn out from the race yesterday so we got separated halfway to the rock. Overall effort was decent but I didn't kill myself. 

One mile at Firehouse.

Met Tara at the LPT.  We both had a weekend full of home improvement projects so neither one of us were feeling up to any tempo miles.  As usual, the run turned into a progressive run.  Started at 8:15/mile and finished at 7:20/mile for an overall average of 7:45. 

I never get allergies but I've been battling them the last few days so I took yesterday off.  Thought I would experiment with running and going to the gym the same morning.  Drove to the LPT and warmed up with a mile then ran 4X1/2 mile at 5k pace with 1/4 mile jog in between.  Splits were: 3:00, 2:57, 2:58, 2:59.  Last one was a struggle but I guess it is supposed to be. Ran 1 mile cool down then drove home, changed my clothes and went to Firehouse.  Fortunatley, today's exercises were focused on strength so I didn't have to kill myself cardiovascularly.  The workout did include 2 runs which I tood relatively easy.

15 miles on the LPT with Tara.  Well, not all of the miles were on the LPT and not all of them were with Tara.  I ran out of gas with 2 miles to go and sent her on her way.  Averaged 8:00/mile for the entire run.  The runs are getting long enough and it is getting warm enough outside that I need to start taking fuel with me.