Relentless

AM - 11 Twix/Hospital.  Good morning run.  Temps are nice and comfortably chilly and it was just a nice morning.  Achilles is holding up pretty decent so far this week.  Finished up with my ab workout.  (Peg Oly 255.5)

afternoon - 8 Track. Same workout as last week. We feel that this is really going to develop some quality development for the team. Today I ran on the quicker side with Carson. (Pace blue 114.25)

AM - abs then 25 minute walk with Twix; followed up with weights.  

afternoon - 7.75 Green Springs.  Good run today.  Good feel about the crew today.  Good weather today.  Good day.  Finished with some good striders.  (Riders 694)

AM - yoga and abs.  

afternoon - 9.5 DI/track. Warmed and cool with the DI around a 30 minute tempo on the track. Started out at 6:20 for awhile, then Carson started to feel a little better. So he and I picked it up down to 6:00. Felt smooth and strong. Happy with it. (Adios 457)

morning - 11 Rim Trail. Headed over to Hurricane later in the day so I could eat breakfast with the kids and catch some more sun (what an awesome time of the year in Southern Utah). Twix took he lead for the first three and then she really started to uncharacteristicly struggle and I had to pull her for the rest of the way. I probably would have pushed out at least 15, but was worried that Twix might not make it back. Had a strong pace on the way back and got a good negative split. It felt awesome to glide across the trail. Amazing scenery out there. (Sense 202.5)

Good week. By the end of the week, I actually felt like a real runner for the first time in recent memory - I loved it!

Goals for next week: keep working on the little things that seem to be helping my health (abs, eccentric heal drops, etc), and push up the miles and pace as the body allows. 

AM - abs and 30 min walk with the dog.

afternoon - 13.25 Turkey Farm. Under the new overpass and up the TF Road. Probs the first time up there for most of the kids. Felt strong throughout. Good afternoon run. (Peg black33 13.25)

AM - 4.75 Parkway.  Ran with Twix and then did weights.  Finished up with the usual ab workout (seemed tougher after having lifted).  Warm morning.  (Peg blue 409)

afternoon - 5.5 Root Beer Mile. Ran and extended DI for warm. Then hit the RB Mile. It was heinous as always - stomach was so bloated and jacked; ran a 14:47. Tons of quality puking from many!  Finished with a slow and hazy DI. (Peg 31 825)

AM - 11 Twix/DI/AC. Put in 4 with the dog then over to practice. Did DI before and then finished with a little bit extra at the end. Achilles was a bit tighter than I would have hoped. Finished up with abs. (Peg black33 24.25)

afternoon - 8 track. Some more pace work today. Put CV pace on the bookends of tempo and threshold in some minute reps. Workout was fine, but I felt a bit tired in the legs. Temps are pretty dang nice right now. (Pace blue 122.25)

AM - 25 minute walk with Twix. Then weights and abs. 

afternoon - 8 Moe's Valley. Kinda all over the place put in the Zen area. A bit tired, but it sure is beautiful out there. (Sense 210.5)

AM - abs, yoga, and then a 15 minute walk with Twix.  Not feeling great.  Not sick, but just totally worn out.  Thought about getting the usual 4 with the dog in this morning, but that wasn't happening.

afternoon - 10 track tempo. Warmed with extended DI and then the tempo. It was a great workout. Temps were nice, overcast and a bit breezy. A few raindrops throughout. Worked into it with 2 miles at 6:20, then took it to 6:10, 6:00 and about 100 meters short of a 5:45. Pleased. Team rannvery strong and controlled. Cooled on the track. (Pace 396.75)

morning - 11.75 Twix/Sullivan. Ran a few with Twix. Then down to Sullivan to run with the girls. I enjoy running with them. It is a fun difference from the boys. Felt good to relax a bit and just cruise with them. (Cumulus 269.75)

A tired week with a bit more pain in the achilles than I would want, but made it through. 

Goals for next week: 70 seems to be a good mileage week for me now. If I get a bit worn down, I'll bring it down a little. But hopefully I can just keep it right there. Keep solid on abs. 

AM - 4 Twix.  Up and at 'em for the week with the dog.  Finished up with some ab work.  Maybe a little more achilles pain that I would hope for at the beginning of the week, but obviously better than the end of last week.  (Peg blue 413)

afternoon - 13.5 Fields/Dam/Sullivan. Good run with the boys. I didn't really feel great - stomach off and a little hazy. But we ran pretty well - sub 7 ave. (Peg black33 27.75)

AM - abs, 25 walk with Twix, and then weights. 

afternoon - 6 Church Rocks. A bit over 6 on a nice desert trail run. We didn't push any pace, just a good chill run. (Sense 216.5)

AM - 7.25 Twix/AC/DI.  Didn't quite get my usual Wednesday morning miles.  I woke up last night and was up for quite a while trying to go back to sleep.  So the 5:00am alarm turned in to 5:30.  Still got a little with the dog.  Then practice which I extended on to the DI loop.  Felt pretty good today, though.  Finished up with abs.  (Peg grey 284.25)

afternoon - 9.75 track.  Did a DI warm and cool around a 400 workout.  12x400 @ CV pace.  Started at 1:21 and worked down to 1:18 with about a 1:10 recovery.  Everything felt pretty easy.  I thought it would be tougher at the end.  But it wasn't, which is good.  The pace isn't supposed to kill.  The kids did great and everyone stayed within their zones for the most part.  I really don't know if there is any team in the state that can match our aerobic fitness right now... We'll see how that plays out come time for some racing.  Finished with 4xstriders and the cool.  Forgot to mention that the final 5 of the warm was at E Tempo pace.  (Pace blue 132)

AM - abs, 20 min walk with Twix, and then weights. 

afternoon - 6.5 DogTown. A little more flat than I thought I would be. I was thinking about the team and how impressive it is that an easy recovery run is a 6.5 miler. When I was in school 5 miles was a long run. Proud of the program that has been built and supported by amazing kids. (Kinvara green 438.25)

AM - 6 Twix/AC. Abs, then a bit of running with Twix and then practice. Finished up with a pleasant session of yoga. (Peg blue 419)

afternoon - 9.25 Old Man Hills. Over to Old Man's and did 3 sets of 3x80 sec hills at a good controlled pace. Had a solid cool and 4xstriders. (Peg Oly 264.75)

morning - 12.25 Gilbert. Nice little run out into Coral Canyon with Twix. A light drizzle throughout. Just enjoyed the run and being out and about. (Peg black33 50)

Another solid week. I may get in decent shape if I keep this up. 

Goals for next week: things are about to get busy with track season getting going. So I'll just try and keep on looking for the good in life. 

morning - 15.5 Twix/Rim Trail. Ran around 3 with he dog. Then a bunch of the team went over to Hurricane and ran the Rim Trail. Awesome run as always. (Riders 697)(VertK 648)

AM - abs, 25 min walk with the dog, and weights. 

afternoon - 6.5 Middleton/GS.  Just an ehh run.  One of those that feels like it takes forever 'cause you don't really feel great and we were just kind of exploring around with no real destination.  However, the route was pretty cool - under the new overpass, into Middleton and to the pond, then connect over the red cliffs to Green Springs.  (Cumulus 276.25)

AM - 10.25 Twix/AC/DI.  Hit the Parkway with Twix and then the usual morning run with the team and extended around the DI.  Felt a little better than yesterday as far as fatigue goes.  The morning temps are nice right now.  Finished up with abs.  (Peg oly 275)

afternoon - 5.5 track.  Warmed and then started into the CV workout.  Noticed that the right hammy was feeling pretty tight.  But didn't stress; things tend to warm up.  However, by the 4th 400 the leg was pretty tight and on the recovery I just lightly stretched.  As we went into the 800, it still felt tight and coming down the homestretch the 1st time, I felt a twinge.  So I pulled out and was bummed out.  Tried to join the boys for their cool, thinking some light jogging would help it out.  It didn't.  I got 1/2 mile out and had to walk back to school.  Pretty lame.  Just when I was getting into some sort of shape.  Hopefully it is just a little setback.  I'll probably take tomorrow off.  Don't know if I'll run DogTown, wasn't totally sure if I would anyway... but I'm guessing I won't have to make the decision now anyway.  (Pace blue 137.5) 

AM - no running today (or even walking the dog).  Just woke up and did abs then went to weights.  Can still feel a bit of weirdness in the leg.  

AM - Leg still feels a bit off.  Had thought about going a little this morning, but decided against it.  Did abs and yoga.

afternoon - 5.5 Panorama. Just wandered around a bit. For me it was a test of the hammy. Tons of tightness and weakness in there. I really thought I could do a solid half tomorrow, but that is very much in doubt. Ended with 6xstriders - very controlled pace. (Peg grey 289.75)

AM - 2.5 Twix. Ran a little with the dog to make my final decision on racing. Pick it up to race pace for about 1/4 just to see if it was even possible. Still very iffy, but I decided to give it a shot anyway. 

DogTown Half Marathon     1:14:29

Didn't warm up any more, just taped up my leg and threw in some pain patches and hoped for the best.  A little change in the course this year - start out by DATS and didn't go all the way up Majestic hill (made for a faster course - I had hoped for a solid 1:13 after running a mid-high 1:15 last year, but now just prayed to finish). Started off with a group of my boys in the 3rd place pack. We set a solid pace around 5:40-:45 and clicked off the miles.  Every now and then we would dip into the :30's and thing felt okay aerobically, but I was very worried about my hammy - it really felt like it would pop at any minute, so I didn't dare push it any more; that's okay, though, because it helped keep the boys under control and able to finish strong. Our group broke up at around 10 and now Alex and Julien and I yo-yo'ed back and forth about 5 times. I was proud of all of them: Mitch finished very strong, Alex really responded each time I moved up to him, Julien fought like a beast the last couple miles, Carson battled stomach probs to finish solid, Logan really ran solid, and so did Mikey and Nathan. Then I ran down to finish with the girls and they were just doing awesome!  They are such a tough group. I ran the last 1 1/2 with Ry. She wasn't feeling great, but fought on in for a 3 min PR. I've said stuff like this before, but I really don't think too many hs's in the country could match what we did today - 3 boys under 1:14:30 with a fourth who would have if not for his stomach and a fifth who could have if he was in town, then 2 (and a 3rd who didn't run and would have) at 1:18; then 5 girls under 1:31 (with two more who would have if they had run... recovering from injuries, well one is an 8th grader but I'm counting her!). (Peg black33 84)

Survived the week, dang hammy though.  And completed my first race in 1 year (last was DogTown last year).  If it wasn't for this hammy I think a very solid 1:13 would have happened; so progress.

Goals for next week: I really want to enjoy the Red Mountain 30K and hit a decent time, but I gotta get Gus leg better  it is very sore and painful right now.

AM - 20 min walk with Twix and then abs.

Took the day off (will probably take a few off) to let the hamstring rest up.  I would really like to run the 30K this weekend, so hopefully it feels better by then.

AM - 20 minute walk with Twix, then weights and abs.  Have felt a little progress in hammy.  Maybe another day or two and I'll get out for a few miles.