Relentless

AM - 13 DogTown/DM. Had a rough night for my poor feet. Both achilles are just a little sore; so I figured I had better follow the same advise I gave Alli P and do the stuff that makes them better. So I needed to wear the Strausburg sock. But on my left pinkie toe, I ripped out my hang nail yesterday and it was way sore - too sore to have that sock pulling on it all night. And my right big toe kills in that dang thing (unbeknownst to the world, I believe I broke it a few weeks ago; it always has a general pain, but in the Strasburg or when my shoe turns wrong - like going down rocky trails last week - or when I hit it it hurts bad enough to push to tears. Anyway, I decided I would do the right foot. It hurt that toe bad enough that I really could sleep. So at some point early in the night, I abandoned the effort. To the run... Forcing myself into an easy run today. Took Twix five around town. The left toe really hurt - probably the worst one of those has ever hurt, but by the end it had faded to a dull ache. Then ran Dirt Mile progression with the Varsity girls from 8:00 (actually a little quicker 'cause we got caught up in my yelling at the boys to get going), 7:50, 7:40, sub 7:00. They did a good job and are fun to run with. The boys did well upon their own, too. Both things made me quite happy. Finished up with 8xbarefoot striders. (Barefoot '15 35.25)(Riders 314.5)

RHR: 41

AM - 12.75 Twix/Parkway. Took the dog on he route in reverse direction and then the Parkway for practice. All very easy... Necessary and Proper. I am thoroughly convinced that the Strausburg Sock was created by a masocist who laughed at the idea of taking an ornery injured runner and making his/her sleeps as uncomfortable and restless as possible. (Barefoot '15 35.75)(Peg Black 123.5)

RHR: 40

afternoon - 11 Forsyth Canyon. Just needed to get away from people and hit a trail. So I drove up to Pine Valley to tackle the Forsyth/Summit Trail. It was absolutely beast! Such a great experience. Allowed me to clear my head and enjoy some of the greatest creations made. Took it up in 1:26 and back down in 1:01 for the 3500 ft climb. Both were pretty easy. Wasn't trying to kill anything; just enjoy life. The view from the top is just absolutely breath taking. Glad I did it; even though when I got back to civilization it was more of the same. (VertK 474)

AM - 13 DM/BHNP. Slept in a little after a late night church meeting and got in a bit with Twix. Then a short break for the drive over to Bloomington Hills North Park for practice. We ran a couple laps of the course and then the Mayor's Loop. Life a little tired. (Barefoot '15 38)(Kinvara grey 62)

Sandy Classic 5K. 17:00

AM - 13 Dimple Dell/Sandy. Got up a little later than planned, but I still wanted to get most of my mileage in before the race. But didn't really care how much that was. Ran down to the city hall by going up to Granite Park and running the Dimple Dell Gully all the way down. I took it super easy, but it as nice to be off the roads and on a good soft trail. My legs and mind were just super spent and I know if I didn't change my attitude I was in for a real crappy run. Got to the start and bumped into Rob and then found my fam, changed my shoes and warmed up just a little with my girls. The race was totally different than last year - which ended up being good for the win, but bad for the time. It went out super slow. By about 1/4 mile I had the lead and it looked like no challengers even though I was taking it pretty conservative - knowing I am not as in fast shape as last year. Hit the mile in 5:36, was 5:10 last year. So my 33 sec slower time was almost all in this mile. Pushed the second mile a bit and it was a bit quicker than last year; I think in the 5:teens. Tried to push the third mile. Glanced back and saw Blake of Alta not way back, so I wanted him to know he didn't have a chance and shouldn't even try. So I pushed pretty hard on the uphill side of the mall. This mile ended up a bit slower than last year as I tried to push in, but really didn't have much. I think around a 5:high teens again. Not a great race, but it is fun to win as you get old. And most importantly, maybe I can believe in myself a little bit more for my tempos and start getting myself into shape. Went back and looked for Rylee. She finished 5th last year, and I thought she might have a chance for the win if no superstars showed up. Sure enough, found her pushing the last 600 in, in the lead and passing all sorts of guys. She was about 40 seconds faster than last year at 20:40; not a bad start for her Freshman year on a fair/tougher course with the highest mileage evaer in her legs and no teammates to help push her. Went and found Pyper and ran in with her. She did great and finished with a 24, 13th overall and 4th in her age. Then went and got Laney. Ally was running with her and helped keep her going. She ended up 3rd in her age, so that was fun. (Rocket 2 105.75)(Riders 321.5)

RHR: 42

Good week for running. Fun to run up the mountain, run with the girls team, and watch my girls race.

Goals for next week: see what it brings. I really shouldn't need a lower week, but if necessary I will. Maybe something fun out on some trails since I can't be with the team.

AM - 16.75 Dimple Dell/Sego Lily. On Sat Rob Murphy and I had talked about going up to Jeremy Ranch. Sounded awesome and was pretty excited about it, but forgot that fam was going to Lagoon. So that kind of threw off the plan. Messed up my original plan of trailing at Corner Canyon too. So, anyway, got up kind of early and took Twix out on the Dimple Dell trails. A few more people out than I thought at that time. Also bugged by the people that blatantly ignore the rules and have their dogs off leash (because apparently they and their dogs are to awesome to follow rules a but guess what, my dog isn't awesome enough and when your dog charges up to mine, who is on a leash and is trying to be better so she doesn't get in trouble, and starts causing problems it is going to develop into me probably yelling at you and your dog). But we had a good time. Then dropped off the dog and ran Sego Lily finishing with some barefoot striders at the church park. Including some running through the coldest sprinklers know to mankind! (Barefoot '15 37.5)(Riders 336.75)

morning - 16.25 Sego Lily/Wasatch. Up a little later after getting home late from a good day at Lagoon. Took Twix around Sego Lily, bumping into Justin Park at the end and having a good chat with him. Then up onto Wasatch where I attempted my tempo. Splits were all over, basically following the terrain - faster downhill and slower uphill. Overall probably just a little bit better than last week's effort. 6 miles of tempo starting at 2 miles from the in-laws. 5:59, 6:15, 5:40, 5:35, 6:19, 5:47. (Riders 353)

All day - 33 Virgin River Rim Trail. Have wanted to run this full trail for years, so we just kinda did a quick throw together planning of this trail last night. Met up at the store at 4:30 and drove up Cedar Mt. to Strawberry Pont. We didn't have a ride back to the trailhead at this point in time, but eventually got ahold of Hayden who graciously volunteered his day to tote us all over the place. Started the tail at about 6:30 with high hopes and great attitudes. Saw deer, elk and antelope throughout the day. Views off the cliffs and down into Zion were absolutely unmatched and indescribable. Dodged some intense thunderstorms with only brief lightning and hail. Unfortunately, Logan wasn't feeling too hot and struggled a bit. Steve drank his water pretty quick and when I dumped some of mine into his, I spilled most of mine. So he and I dropped off the trail to a campground my Navajo Lake to refill and Logan continued on. When we got back the trail, I noticed no footprints on the trail and worried Logan may have missed a trail sign. By 16-17 Steve and I were both getting pretty spent too. Still no Logan and we should have caught him by now. More amazing views and spectacular single-track trail through the high aspen and pine forest. Finally at about 26 I started to feel a little better and ran a few faster miles through a picturesque aspen meadow. Got to the "end" of the trail and waited for Steven at the trailhead for about 20 minutes. Started to go back and get him when he came out of the forest. Turned out he lost his phone and spent a bunch of time looking through the meadow for it without any luck. Still no Logan. Kind of had to guess at which direction to drop off the mountain to Woods Ranch, but had a decent idea and we guessed right. Got down there and Hayden was waiting for us. But not Logan. So I waited in case he showed up while Hayden took Steve to the car at the top of the trail. I really figured we would need to car the sheriff and have them search for Logan. But I had a very good idea where he had missed the trail and that would give us a good direction to look. I told Steve, best case was that Logan had backtracked and worked his way to the highway. Sure enough, after a few minutes they came and got me with a stranger they had picked up on the highway. After getting the car we went back to where Steve lost his phone and ran in just over a mile to look again. Still no luck, bummer. Overall and awesome experience. Would like to do it again when I was feeling better and when Logan was feeling better. So beautiful up there. Truly inspiring. (VertK 497)

morning - 8.25 Twix/DogTown. Slept in a bit and just did whatever I felt like this morning. Both achilles hurt so bad this morning I could barely walk. Got so tight from yesterday that it really set them off. (Plus, they hurt pretty bad at least half the run yesterday.). Even wore the sock on the right leg for most of the night until I ripped it off. Just be more diligent on them, I guess. After a very slow and painful mile, they both warmed up a bit and I could actually move. The pace was easy, but beside the achilles pains I felt pretty good. Extended around with Twix around DogTown to have a little more running. Iced up and rolled pretty good to try and help them be ready to have a little better run tomorrow. Probably won't double today. (Peg 31 473.5)

morning - 11.25 Twix/GS. Slept in a little again and took the dog out for a few. Then went up to Green Springs. Achilles both felt a little better today. Although I felt better than yesterday, it was all still pretty laxy-taxi. (Peg Black 134.75)

Body and mind needed a break. Slept in today and then took two naps. Achilles was killing. So I just decided to bag it as one of those days. Bummer end to the week. But the rest was alright.

Goals for next week: use the energy of the team to get me back rolling.

AM -18.75 Twix/CC. Good run with the dog and then into Coral Canyon looped to Telegraph via Lower Grapevine. Boys did pretty well after a busy week last week. Ended with some striders. (Barefoot '15 39)(Peg Black 152)

afternoon - 6 ND. What a difference a few degrees makes. Just under 100, so much nicer than 105+. (Kinvara White 443)

AM - 15.75 Sullivan/Grass. I've come to a very important cross roads in my running and could use advice. I woke up with just the gut feeling that I was done with training - The Circle of Trust had pretty much called our retirement of marathoning at last year's SGM. But in my heart I didn't think I was quite done. So this year I decided to give it one more shot. Although some things are going well, the training just isn't getting me quite where I want to be. So this morning those feelings were really coming out as I took the dog around for a few before meeting up with James for our tempo. I decided that any time that begins with a 4 isn't a great time to try and think rationally and decided to just get to the workout. Started off and just felt junky. Hit the corners at 5:58 and 6:00. Then the Dam Hill hit and I just lost it physically and mentally. James caught up and mentioned my lack of hard breathing. It was true, I had given up. Top of the hill was 6:13. Decided to shut the crap up and get going. Caught back up and got to the bridge at 6:07. But only held at pace through the last section on the river trail. My mind is just racing and I am wondering how come I can have an okay 5k, but can't even tempo with 45 seconds/mile of it. Two big reasons: 1)mileage is very high and wearing me out. 2) I am not fully into it and training to try and be fast is too tough to do when your not into it. So I need to decide which direction do I want to go. I love running a lot. I love running fast. But it seems my age is telling me that both are necessarily conducive to each other anymore. I know my tempo struggles are because I am so tired. Hmmm? I don't know. Ended the morning with some barefooting on the grass for practice. (Barefoot '15 47)(Kinvara grey 85.5)

afternoon - 3.75 Sunrise. Easy afternoon run with the team followed by some weights. (Lyte33 226.5)

AM - 16 Twix/Dirt Mile. Good run with the boys. Solid progression. They have improved greatly on their group running skills. Hopefully they can parley that a little in their racing.

AM - 13. Don't remember the run or shoes. But took the dog out and then ran for practice. After, I took the scouts up Pine Valley on the Forsyth Canyon Trail. A couple weeks ago I ran up this trail in under an hour and a half. It took us 6 hours to hike up it today. In some ways it was cool to push the kids. In other ways it was pathetic. I was literally pushing kids to make them go, lifting them off the ground when they wanted to give up. I even had to unwrap a kid from a tree who said, "Just leave me here." It is sad that an 8 mile hike is the hardest thing these kids have ever done in their lives. Camping up the trail was cool though, and the kids didn't try anything because they were so tired.

0 - spent the day hiking back down then mountain. What an adventure that whole was. It took forever; both up and down. It made me very grateful that I am active and can go out and do things that truly most of the world can't. I will always be that way my whole life, and when I can't it is time to die.

AM - 18.5 Toquerville. Ran home from the Toquerville exit with James and Logan; we were even joined by Billy Boy for the first while. My gut was totally ruined from all the protein bars I ate while hiking the last two days. But I am glad I took them since they didn't provide nearly enough food. The pain in my stomach was so weird and uncomfortable, and it lasted through much of the run. Legs were pretty heavy as well. We just kinda cruised along, but it was a good run. (Peg 492)

The week was what it was. Glad it is over.

Goals for next week: overhaul the body and mind. Don't stress that it isn't all coming at once; everything is a process.

AM - 16 Twix/River Trail. Goal is to cut my mileage down - especially on Monday - and be a bit fresher for tempo. So I slept in a little and only ran 3 with Twix. Then at practice we did our long run down the river trail via Hell's Hole. It was a very pleasant morning with a nice easy rain almost the entire run; very unlike the violent summer storms we most often get down here. More of the team was back today with just a few stragglers still missing for vacations and what not. Ended with barefoot striders. (Barefoot '15 44.5)(Peg Black 166.5)

AM - 15.75 Sullivan Tempo/Grass. A couple with Twix then down to tempo with James. Had my best tempo of the year, so that was a positive. Got my new watch - a Garmin 225 - so I was able to get splits for a change. That was kind of fun; plus I had a much better attitude coming in. Went 5:53, :47, :57, 6:09 up the hill, 5:40, 5:46. 5:54 ave. finally some fives! Over to practice for some easy grass barefooting. For a little reference, I checked out the heart rate at a few key points on the route (225 has a a super sick hr monitor in the wrist!) - started around 180-190, kept the hill at 185-189, the last couple miles were a little lower even though I was tired and going faster, but it did have some downhill grade 170-175. (Barefoot '15 48.75)(Kinvara Grey 85.25)

afternoon - 4 Sunrise. Just shy of 4, in the 30 minute easy run. Pretty nice for what the summer should be. Weights after. (Kinvara blue 248.25)

AM - 15 Twix/DM. Again, sleeping a little later and not getting as much in with Twix (I think she is mad at me for only going 4 with her). Then a progression with the boys on the Dirt Mile from 7:00 to sub 6:00 in the 5.5+ miles. Not as hard as we have run in the past at this point in the season, but we have really changed our focus and overall team concept this year at PV and I can tell it is going to pay off big time. They are really setting up for a solid season. I really can't say there is anything that I am disappointed about with them this summer - except the news that two of our awesome teammates and very important contributors to this year's and future years' team have a very high likelyhood of moving in a couple weeks (super bummed about that). Finished up with striders. (Barefoot ''15 50.25)(Riders 368.5)

afternoon - 3.5 Runway. Earlier I thought about getting out this afternoon, but I was pretty tired and achy all day so I had figured I wouldn't. Then Ry came home and needed her afternoon run. So I ended up going an easy 30 with her up toward Grapevine. It was fun to run and chat with her, and it helped loosen up a few of my aches too. (Mana 734.75)

AM - 15 Twix/Vernon Worthen. Five with Twix and the over to town for practice today. A grass lap warm up and then up the last bit of the mary course for a little long uphill run. Could tell we were all running on some tired legs today. Didn't push back down very hard at all. Did see the Dixie crew running around; good to know they have got a little something going this summer. (Barefoot '15 50.75)(Peg 506.5)

afternoon - 4 Sunrise. Just short of 4 again on a warming up afternoon. (Kinvara silver 501.5)

AM - 3.25 Twix. Some very slow easy miles with the dog to start off the morning.

Hurricane Pioneer Days 5K. 16:34

Then over to Hurricane for their nice little 5K. I actually really like this race a lot. It is totally low key; two cans entry fee, no bibs, simple timing, super size candy bar for the winner, donuts and chocolate milk at the end, correct distance - the way races should be, no huge production, just some faster fun running. Didn't run as fast as last year because I wanted to take the opportunity to help my boys who were there work on some packing (even if Jake did miss the start because of his issues). We had a good group through 1 at 5:28 (last year I went 4:58 on this one). A little bit of fall off for a couple guys in the second mile that we could improve and went through at 5:30. Then I pushed a little more and hoped they would all come with me. It strung them out a bit, but they all still put in good efforts. Hit the 3rd at 5:10 (so actually closed at 5 secs faster, but that was because Mitch and Paul were coming after me). Felt very fine and comfortable throughout. Don't know how much quicker I could have gone if I would have really tried to open it up, but I think I could have shaved off a few for those first two miles and been close to last year's time. Cooled back with the boys and yelled at the girls as they finished up. (Adios 376)

AM - 20.25 Quail. Didn't really have a plan, so I headed out toward Grapevine. By the time I got there I figured I would do the Quail Creek run. But with different beginning that I was headed out on. Throughout did 4x3 miles wi 1 mile rec at progression - 6:30, 6:15, 6:00 and 5:45. Felt pretty good; nothing was too hard except the last .5 up Highland that was pretty tough and I was spent; even though I actually had the overall feeling of being trashed. Pretty pleased win this morning's effort. (Peg Black 186.25)

Good week; things moved in the right direction this week.

Goals for next week: XC camp! Pretty stoked, except the prep; enjoy time with the team and have a great experience (and no one get hurt).

AM - 16 Twix. Ran with the dog and then I don't remember what we did as a team for practice, but it was a bit shorter, as we are headed off to camp, ending with striders. (Barefoot '15 51.75)

afternoon - 4 Pine Lake Road. Up at camp and we went down the main road to camp. Probably the best I have felt on the first run at camp. (Riders 372.5)

AM - 20 Great American Trail. Up early to take the suburban out to our finish spot for the long run. Ran back up the road to camp and grabbed the team. They had a very solid long run around the trail loop. (Peg black 206.75)

afternoon - 3.5 Pine Lake. Ran with the girls 'cause I was just totally spent from this morning. Jumped in the lake at the end and it was extremely refreshing. (Riders 374)

AM - 13.5 Boulder Mtn. Ran down the dirt road and back for a bit before the team woke up and the we did our mountain run for practice. Presto and Nick and I hit 4.15 up (they actually finished a few steps in front of me as I just didn't hang the last minute). We had 10 guys finish higher than where out top guy did last year (which was the highest ever). The girls also totally killed it. Quite a climb and totally amazing. (Peg 520)

afternoon - 6 Towers. Up on top of Boulder for pics and then an extended afternoon run up to the towers. This was the coolest run of camp. Up to nearly 11000 ft, amazing views, and just great times with the boys. Climbed up a radio tower (which was pretty sketch for me, since I am a total wuse) and tied up a PVXC shirt. Awesome run ended super crappy when I tore the crap out of the bumper of the school suburban. Bet that will come back to haunt me in a few different ways. LTL. (Riders 380)

AM - 12 Pine Lake loop. A bit extra to stRt off the morning again and then the last run at camp. We were all pretty tired as we headed up toward canyon overlook, but didn't have it in our legs to do it. So we hit a new trail around the backside of the lake. It was a very cool trail and kind of revived us - a good end to camp. (Peg Black 218.75)

morning - 11 Canyon Overlook. Got out a little later after helping cook breakfast for the fam up at camp. Didn't really feel like going, so I just started off and let it be what it would. Ended up a good run. Ran on the lake loop tail and then up to the overlook. It is so amazing up there. (Peg 531)