Relentless

morning - 15.75 Fields.  Great long run with the team today.  Dropped off kids along the way as they hit their distances and Tyson and Devin and I continued on for 14.  We hit a good solid pace throughout and had a good 2.5 mile controlled tempo section.  Added Molly's Mile at the end.  Best news of the day: JP focusing just on XC (this is going to have amazing effects on our girls program!).  (Barefoot '11 123)(Oregon 69)

lap swim: 10 mins.  Hadn't swam for over a week, so I didn't take it too crazy.  Felt good to get in the water.

evening - 9 Bloomington Hills North Park.  Went over to this park to see if maybe it would be a better fit for our region XC course.  Ran a few laps first to get a feel for the layout and then designed out a course and ran it twice.  I actually really like it - but I like running on any grass, so I should get some more opinions; but I think a definite possibility (with less conflicts than any other park around also).  (Barefoot '11 132)

AM - 11.25 Lower Grapevine.  Went out for 3 before practice and then we went out to Lower Grapevine.  Finished up with striders and the run home.  Pretty tired from yesterday's mileage.  Bummer news of the day: JP is back to soccer.  (Altra 214)(Barefoot '11 133.5)

weights/plyos

lap swim: 20 mins.  Got in a good groove and would have gone a lot more had I not been worried about wearing myself out more than I already am.

AM - 13 Hell's Hole Hills.  Ran around a bit before practice and then we headed to Hell's Hole where the boys proceeded to remind me that I am getting older over and over again - 6x1 mins. and 8x30 secs.  It took a few minuters to get the legs rolling, then I was doing alright, but the 30 seconders about brought me to puking each time.  (Barefoot '11 134)(Ohana racers 565.25) 

afternoon - 6 Upper Grapevine.  Was planning on running Dino Tracks, but I just felt like junk (even walked up a couple hills), so I just kind of grinded it out and got done.  Ice bath wasn't great, as I was low on ice (but yesterday's was a good one - even though it felt like it did little this morning - and I got more ice for another one tomorrow).  Have been loading up on drinks and everything today to try and get hydrated again.  Legs have just been cramping like crazy and this afternoon's run was hideous for my hip - never warmed up at all, hurt pretty much the whole time (it is not a pain that is fun to deal with at all - in fact almost excruciating today); I think it has been set off more by my tight and dehydrated muscles.  (NB 101 210.5)

morning - 4 Grass.  Wasn't even sure if I would run at all this morning after the struggles from yesterday.  But decided that an easy 4 on the grass might help me loosen up a bit - plus I always enjoy running barefoot on the grass, so maybe that would help me get in a positive mood.  Ended with 8xbarefoot striders.  It was nice and I felt much better than yesterday; and it was also nice to get Summer Club over with.  I need to make sure I don't burn myself out and also give my body time to recover.  I really enjoy running, but after yesterday I was just really bummed about how I felt and I questioned a lot of my running.  (Barefoot '11 138)

evening - 10 Club.  Felt much better tonight.  Ran watchless so I wouldn't get hooked into any sort of pace and just had a nice enjoyable run with Clyde and Aaron.  And I guess I was the hero of the night as I saved Julio from the dark streets of SG!  (Boston 693.5)

morning - 10.5 Turkey Farm.  Just when things are looking bleakest, they start to turn around.  Today's run was also very nice, and after earlier in the week wondering what in the world I was doing even running, I am just enjoying it and feeling good.  Hit 4 sets of 2min, 1min, 30sec fartleks with the team.  Had a great run and just enjoyed the progress of both the girls and boys teams throughout this summer.  Ended with a mile with the dog.  Positive stuff.  (Barefoot '11 139.5)(Rocket 45)

AM - 15.5 Bloomington Loop.  Ran with Clyde from his house down around Bloomington and back up the DC and around to River Road and his house.  Good run.  We just chatted throughout and had a good 6:50 pace/ave.  Good end to an up and down week - and wanted to end with more up, so I didn't push beyond the 15.  No pain in hip or left hammy.  (Kinvara 454.65)

Week was all over.  I got greedy and didn't keep my eyes on the bigger picture.  But got feeling better with a lot of icing (four baths) and major rolling - including foam roller, and smarter running at the end of the week.

Goals for next week:  I would like to really hit a solid half up at Beaver, so get myself geared up for that.  And first XC race this Weds.  We are using it as a workout and team grouping practice, so get the kids ready for that.

AM - 20 Fields.  Ran over to practice and then out on a 14 miler with the top boys.  Hit 3 at a tempo just below my Tinman and then back home from school at the end of the run - ran that section hard as well for another 2.75 of tempo.  Really good 20 miler.  Felt strong throughout and pains were not to crazy.  Ran in a pair of Asics Hyper Speed 4 that a friend found left at a race and gave to me, so they are used, but in very good condition - I would bet less than 100 miles on them.  (Hyper Speed 20)

AM - 13 Tempo Loop.  Tempo Tuesdays back in session.  Thought it was a pretty good tempo for me.  I felt controlled and strong through, without stressing really at all.  The first couple were 5:50'ish, then a 45 and a 55 through Industrial, and then back to two 40's.  Pretty happy with it.  Ended with the warm up with the team.  (Rocket 58)

afternoon - 6.25 2450/AC.  First time I joined the team for an afternoon run (after I went out a little on my own) - just as warm as when I run on my own.  Felt pretty good, but a little tired in the legs.  (Stratus grey 834.85)

weights and plyos

AM - 10 Starbucks.  Ran over to practice, Starbucks route, and back home.  Feeling pretty nice about things right now.  Wore compression socks to try and work a couple knots out of the calves.  (Altra 224)

AM - 6.5 Parkway.  Ran the Parkway with some extensions because I have school meetings today.  Felt very good.  Only little pains in the hip, everything else was strong.  (Oregon 75.5)

afternoon - 4.5 Bloomington Hills North Park.  After kind of a crazy and stressful morning - almost lost my #1 boy to a broken leg today, but turned out to be a major sprain from a dislocation instead (check out Tyson Boyer's blog for the story and send him a get well!) - went over to this park and ran it with my team and DHHS and some others.  Good stuff on the run.  Added 8xbarefoot striders.   (Barefoot '11 144)

AM - 5 Buena Vista.  An easy 5 this morning.  Just shaking out the legs and getting ready for the race (I guess I had better register!).  Feel good, but running smaller mileage tends to do that to you.  (Ohana Racers 570.25)

Beaver Outlaw 1/2 Marathon     1:13:45

Getting started let me just say this is a great race and more people should do it!

Drove up to Beaver early this morning, registered (only $30 if you pre-register), and had enough time to get 3.5 miles in.  Felt pretty good and looked forward to getting my goal of a 1:13 - which I knew could be tough since the course looked to be harder.  Just the 2nd year of the race and it is way small, so it had some quirks (but nothing that would stop me from doing it again - like giant water cups that were actually kind of nice, and they weren't ready for me at a lot of the stops/intersections since last year's winner was just under 1:30, anyway...), but it was chip timed, started right on time, and the course way accurately measured.  After my warm up, happy to see that Corey had come up - so at least we can push each other a bit.

1-5:30, Starts with a bit of an incline for 1/3 a mile or so and then turns on to the rollers out of town.  Noticed a bit of a breeze coming at me and hoped that it wouldn't be a factor once we turned, but it was.  Corey slid in behind me and I was all alone.  2-5:52, each of the miles through here were rollers with an overall uphill grade.  I was working pretty hard, but didn't look at my watch until much later in the race as I knew the times would be slower and I didn't want to get discouraged.  3-5:57, somewhere in here I saw about 10 deer just off the road up on a hill.  4-5:53, at the end of this mile the course took a turn which took the cross-headwind off of us.  It wasn't a killer, but added to the hills and the 6000ft. elevation, it was draining me.  5-5:48, this had a nice gradual down for 1/4 mile, so I hoped we were done with the hills.  Then I turned a corner and the biggest graded hill of the race was right there.  6-5:15, now we started to get some downhill action.  It was real nice gradual downhill, however, so you could really turn it over and have a good pace.  Still hit 3 or 4 rollers in this mile that took some time.  This section of the course was way pretty - up in the hills with some streams and stuff, saw more deer (actually back around 5 I think).  7-5:27, debated on whether or not to GU, but I figured I would.  Unfortunately there was no aid station here, so I just held it (for another 2 miles until we finally hit one - that probably needs to be addressed for next year).  Overall elevation loss, but again 4 or so rollers that had to be addressed.  8-5:13, through most of these miles I was feeling very good.  This was a gradual downhiller and I glanced at my watch and was hitting some great paces, so I was actually surprised I wasn't closer to 5:00.  Through these parts I gave a couple verbal checks to myself - if anyone was around they would have thought me a psycho, but we were out in the boonies so I talked away to myself.  9-5:32,  ended up taking the GU here which is why I probably lost some time, 'cause this should have been more like 8 (maybe not as fast).  10-5:20, entered back into Beaver and hesitated a little at each corner since I wasn't positive where the turns were (there were cops there, but I caught them off guard a little).  I had checked my time at 7 and did some quick math about reaching my goals and saw that I was right where I needed to be, but a strong last 10K (and now a strong last 5K) could get me to break 1:13 (which would be a true 1/2 PR, everything I have run faster has been downhill aided), so I was kinda stoked and decided to go for it.  But I knew the last mile was back up hill to the finish and I would need some time to spare - wrong on that one!  11-5:22, felt like I was burning up the side streets of Beaver.  I really felt good and was moving well through this flattest section of the course, until... Corey had said that the turn back to the finish was on Center St. and I started to notice that I was going to hit Center way before 12, and that meant more uphill; in fact I hit it right at 11.  So I had 2 miles of uphill (really about 1.75, since the finish brought us back down the same hill we climbed right at the start) that I needed to gut out to get the time.  12-6:03, needed to be at about 5:40'ish and I just couldn't quite get there.  These miles seemed to just drag as I saw my chances slipping for that 1:12.  13-5:54, a 1/3 mile section of dirt road here didn't help, but I wasn't going to get it anyway.  But I kept pushing the hill and grunting and kind of yelling at myself.  Actually pretty proud that I was near and just under 6:00 here.  .1-5:48 pace.  Came to the top of the hill near 12.75 or so I had 1:30 to run the .45; knew that wasn't going to happen, but I could still hit a good time.  So I gave it a bit of a push and when the sub 1:13 was gone just kind of cruised it in.

Ended with a few for a cool with Corey.  (Mana)

Felt pretty please with this race.  In fact, it was my best race in a very long time.  I would guestimate it to be at least 3 minutes slower than Dog Town (2:30 for the hills and then throw in the altitude) and that makes me pretty happy.  My effort was very strong today, hip: only felt a pain in it one time for about 10 seconds, then nothing; and I stayed pretty focused all the way through the end.

Again, I would put a little plug in for this race next year (I think the flyer said it would be the 11th of Aug).  The course is true (even a little hard), but in my mind that is a lot better than some downhill burner that you get a false PR in and then can't walk for 2 weeks; it is very pretty; the town is a nice little place; and it is close enough that Southern Utah can drive up easy in the morning (my buddies were all actually up earlier than me to go destroy their legs on the SGM course!) and you could maybe even do that from the Provo area if you wanted (but it would be a nice little get away to stay over too).  I am not on the Beaver Area Travel and Tourism Board, I promise!

AM - 7.25 Green Springs.  Up and at 'em for the first day of school.  Left knee has felt a little pudgy all weekend after the race, but it was good to get it worked out a little.  (Altra 231.25)

afternoon - 5.75 River Trail.  Took water down to the kids and then joined them for some of the run.  Pretty hot out.  (Hyper Speed 25.75)

AM - 6.25 AC/2450.  Getting a little sick so I decided to not hit the Circle tempo this morning.  Good thing - I was very worn down and sluggish even on a chill run.  (Rocket 64.25)

AM - 11 Mall/2xAC.  Good little morning run with temps a little cooler than the last couple days.  Feeling better than yesterday morning, so hopefully that was just a quick little thing.  (Boston 86.5)

afternoon - 8 Green Springs.  Went up GS 5 with the boys and then Devin and I extended the DI.  Finished up with 8xbarefoot striders.  Felt decent.  Still warm, but maybe acclimating a little more.  (Barefoot '11 145)(Boston 700.5)

lap swim: 15 mins.  Really felt like swimming when I got home, so eventually I jumped in the pool and swam for a little.  Hadn't swam for a couple weeks so it felt good.

AM - 11 Mall/2xAC.  Usual morning routine.  A little more tired today (swimming probably had something to do with that).  (Free 500.45)

afternoon - 4 2xDI.  Just jumped in with the team for their warm and cool around 1000's.  (Stratus black 846.7)

AM - 8 Mall/AC.  So much to get ready for at school that I didn't add the 2nd AC.  (Stratus grey 842.85)

afternoon - 7 Foremaster.  Another hot one.  Put in 15 minutes of decent tempo with the boys.  (Kinvara 461.65)

AM - 19 Quail.  Nice early morning run out around the lake.  I was a little disappointed because some clouds were out and the moon was so bright that it hid the stars a lot, but I still saw 2 great shooting stars.  Ran a decent tempo from 9 to 18 (ran Harrisburg down direction).  Wanted a little more toward marathon pace, but the course and my legs were just giving me Tinman pace/effort.  But it was decent.  (Last Ohana 186)

Made it through the week that was goal #1 of first week of school.  Kind of turned into a recovery week which is okay, I need more of those now that I am approaching another day of getting older.

Goals for next week:  Hold some decent miles for another week (I am going to try and let my mileage drop a little more through Sept. than I have in the past) and get a strong tempo in on Tuesday.

AM - 10.75 Dog Pound/2xHarts/Grass.  The girls had a workout this morning so I ran Dog Pound and then we ran Harts for the warm (and then cool) with 5x1000's.  I ran with Kaylee and helped pace her a little.  It felt good to have a little turnover in the morning.  (Hyper Speed 36.5)

afternoon - 9.25 Fields.  Good, but warm, run out into the Fields with the team.  Met them part way after dropping off water and got a 2 mile Tinman paced tempo in.  (Altra 240.5)

AM - 12.5 Clyde's.  Tuesday Tempo... not too bad today.  Started off feeling very sore/tight in the hip and left hammy, but it started to work its way out eventually.  Tempo section was solid.  Wanted to be at marathon pace for the first 3 - which I did hitting right around 5:45, then pick up the effort through the industrial park (even though the time would be slower) - another 5:45, and finish with 2 solid threshold miles - mile 5 was good using the downhill off industrial to get the legs moving, but 6 was just a touch slow for what I wanted: 5:20'ish and 5:35'ish.  (Rocket 76.75)

weights

AM - 11 Mall/2xAC.  Really tight in the left hammy, so I have been working on it a lot - that is why my hip is really acting up this week.  (Stratus black 857.7)

afternoon - 8.5 Grass/2xDI.  DI warm and cool sandwiched around 3xmile cruise intervals w/2 min. recovery.  Good solid grass running with the boys at just below my Tinman pace.  Then finished with 4x200 hard with 200 recovery.  By the last one, I actually felt a little bit of quickness in the old legs.  (NB 101 219)

AM - 6.25 AC/2450.  Nice to grab a few more minutes of sleep.  Have been working on the hammy a bit - progress... a little.  (Free 506.7)

afternoon - 6 2450 Park.  Ran down to 2450 Park and then barefoot for 4 miles.  (Barefoot '11 149)(Landreth blue 647.4)

weights

AM - 6 2xAC.  Decided to catch a little extra sleep again, even though that will mean running with the kids in the afternoon heat today.  (Landreth orange 911.35)

afternoon - 6 Target.  Good little easy run ending with 8xbarefoot striders.  (Barefoot '11 150)(Boston 705.5)

AM - 15 Bloomington Hills.  Ran with Clyde and Logan early this morning in the heat.  Good solid run throughout.  Hip is feeling pretty decent and hammy is making good progress.  (Oregon 101.5)

lap swim: 15 minutes.  Wish I could get out to the pool more nowadays.

Pretty solid week all things considered.  Got in the weight room twice, so happy about that.  Mileage where I wanted.  And a good tempo Tuesday.

Goals for next week:  Pretty much the same routine as I have been in.  And keep it healthy.

AM - 11.25 Mall/Grass.  Hit the Mall run and then into 1000's with the girls.  After a great race this weekend, they are still rolling.  (Last Ohana 197.25)

afternoon - 6 Shoe Run.  Hadn't hit this route in awhile, so it was nice (and took a good swim in the pond - none of the kids could hang with me in a race).  Then 8xbarefoot striders.  (Barefoot '11 151)(Hyper Speed 41.5)

AM - 12.5 Tempo Loop.  Hit the tempo loop from Clyde's.  Was a decent one, but not quite as solid as last week (just a couple seconds slower per mile - except the last which was a couple quicker).  I think I am just feeling a little more tired (sleepy tired).  (Rocket 83.25) 

afternoon - 4 2xDI.  Hit the DI warm and cool with the team.  (Boston 709.5)

weights

AM - 6 2xAC.  Needed a little more sleep this morning, so I cut the Mall and only hit AC.  (Free 512.7)

afternoon - 7.5 2xDI/laps.  DI warm and cool sandwiched around laps on the track as the team did a workout.  Hip is really holding up well this week.  (Landreth blue 654.9)