Relentless

AM - 7 Hospital.  Good easy run to start the week.  Used my new gloves (ski mittens) and they were very warm.  I had to take them off a couple times to cool off the hands - blah... but it is still nice out; later this week when the weather really gets colder they should work great.  (Free 859.2)

AM - 7 Hospital.  Another 7 this morning on the opposite direction of the Hospital run from yesterday.  Felt okay, but I could have used a lot more sleep.  (F50 587.5)

afternoon - 6 Sunrise Hills.  Ran over and did 4xSunrisers.  Ran the first one with Mia and she hit a great time 2:02, then I tried to push with the boys a little and went 1:53, :52, and :55.  So not too bad.  A W for the day.  (Kinvara3 521.5)

AM - 7 Target.  Seven snowy miles.  The traction wasn't bad for me, but apparently it was for the cars!  So I tried to keep away from any scary roads.  Over three inches at my house when I left this morning.  (Connect 667.25)

AM - 10.25 Clyde's.  Pretty cool out - 17!  Gloves worked great...  (Kinvara Lime 326.25)

afternoon - 5 Washington.  Felt a bit worn down this afternoon.  Left Trevor a little message on his doorstep (we decapitated his snowman and left it there for him).  (Ronin 210)

AM - 6 Foremaster.  So cold this morning.  We are not built for this in Southern Utah!  (Boston 1035.25)

AM - 20 Quail. Totally overdressed for this run. The clouds came in last night and made it much warmer than the last couple mornings. Could have used just normal running gloves and none of the extra stuff, so I had to haul it all with me and then keep taking my mittens on and off because my hands would get too hot. Pretty slow run to get going, but then ended solid. Kept pretending to snow and I thought it would get going good (although it is now). Extended through Coral canyon to get to 20. Did 5.5 miles of progressive tempo from 11-16.5. Didn't hammer it at the start, just warmed into it and ended up running well. 6:15, 5:50, 5:53, 5:38, 5:40, 5:35 pace. Then chilled up highland hill and wanted to hit 2 more at LT, but I was a little tired and never got going that great. 5:27 and then just called it when I was over 6:00 pace at 1.5 and jogged it in. (Kinvara Silver 257.75)

Good week, happy with the mileage and the workouts.

Goals for next week: keep it progressing.

AM - 7 AC/Mall.  Yes, the day everyone has been waiting for actually arrived... I wore tights this morning.  Give a guy a break - it was 5 degrees!  Let the great Southern Utah Palm Tree Kill Off begin (I am going to guess I lose at least 4).  The other miracle was that the Jeep actually started this morning.  Dressed plenty warm with my ski mittens, facemask, tights and even grabben the old FRB/St. George Running Center jacket and the cold never really bothered me.  But the ice everywhere did.  Still plenty on the roads (especially the sides) and the sidewalks.  So I decided to hit loops around the mall where no cars were going to kill me and I would have room to run around the ice.  Plenty boring, but I survived.  (F50 594.5)

AM - 7 GS.  Up into Green Springs in cold - just as cold as yesterday.  I think I have a little bit of sickness.  Holding up fine, but it may be draining me a little (probably another reason why I bonked out yesterday).  (Boston 1042.25)

afternoon - 8 River Trail.  Did a session of yoga for runners with the team.  It felt great and hit some of my problem spots.  Then went out and got 8 down on the trail.  It was actually clear of snow and ice and of course with no cars it was nice.  (Ronin 218)

AM - 10.75 Clyde's (modified).  Hit a different route because of ice on the trail today.  Clyde figured out a decent guess at the mileage.  Having some major GI issues by the end, but I survived.  It was super cold and Logan resembeled Jack Frost from the Santa Claus movie.  (Kinvara Silver 268.5)

AM - 7 Target.  In the teens today, so I didn't dress as warm.  It actually felt good to feel a little of the chill in the air instead of being so bundled up.  (Free 866.2)

AM - 7 GS.  Just the thougth of getting up earlier and out in the cold is making it impossible to get up earlier and get a few more miles in.  Next week I will do better.  Just a touch warmer (can you call it that when it is in the teens?  At least there are two digits on the temp, not one!) and a pretty nice run even though my hammies are kind of jacked after tightening up doing squats yesterday.  (Mana 554)

AM - 19 Quail. Wasn't a good run - kind of a bummer week. Just felt blah and couldn't ever get in to any sort of rhythm. Planned on doing a tempo like last week, but nothing could come of it today, so I just scrapped it. Did see between 30-50 shooting stars though. All sorts of cool ones - ones with huge bright tails, small ones, multiple at the same time, crisscross ones, parallel ones... Pretty cool. So, glad something neat came from it. Just a tiring sludge fest. Even ended it early since it was taking too long. (Kinvara lime 345.25)

Worst week since I have been back working hard.

Goals for next week: tough to set some goals when I am not sure how the body wants to go. Had been running so well for three or so weeks, but now? Hopefully the legs come back a bit and I can get going a bit better.

afternoon - 14.25 4xMile. Slept in this morning. I really wasn't even that tired, I jut didn't want to run. I think mostly I was bummed about having a bad week last week and wasn't looking forward to another one. But by this afternoon I was ready to run. Went down do the river trail and got into the workout. Wasn't even planning on it, but decided to give it a shot. Warmed up around three and then 2 more at Tinman to gt the legs going. 1 and 3 were down river and 2 and 4 up river. 1-5:15, felt much tougher than a couple weeks ago, but I tried to tell myself that at least it was better than last week and to just keep going. 2-:25, wasn't great, but at least I was doing something. 3-:16, felt pretty good for the first half, but then settled a bit. 4-:20, worked pretty hard, so even though the time wasn't great at least I worked hard. And that is how I felt about the whole workout - at least I finished it and worked hard, better than last week. And now I can move that into quicker times next week. Cooled back to school and lifted; then I did 2 more on the DI loop. (Landreth blue 1025.9)

afternoon - 10 Blockage.  I'll call it that because I was trying to do the River Run after a good set of yoga, but the one section where you access the trail that crosses like 50 feet of property was blocked off with a fence and lock.  People are so stupid; you don't even have to do any damage to the property - you go through the fence and onto a dirt road, but no... don't want anyone on my precious property.  So ran around the bottom of Foremaster and then up the Trail to Nowhere and back around to school by way of DI.  (Connect 685.5)

AM - 10.25 Clyde's.  Finally got myself out of be this morning.  I was in need of some extra off time and so I've been taking it these past few mornings.  Starting to feel a little fresher.  I had wanted to hold on through this week as next week will surely be lower mileage as well.  So maybe I'll have two lower weeks in a row.  (Kinvara Silver 278.75)

AM - 7 Target.  I think I got this run to 7 today after a few attempts that may have fallen short (I guess I could just throw my watch on... but no).  Over freezing this morning.  That was wierd.  (Free 873.2)

AM - 6 Parkway.  Just a nice jaunt around the neighborhood with a little extension.  Felt pretty good and it was nice out.  (HyperSpeed 427.5)

AM - 21.25 Southern Parkway. Solid end to the week with a jaunt around the new Southern parkway with the circle and Steven. Nothing really hammering, just good thoughout with a few quicker miles toward the end. Had some conversation, pushed some stuff over, and showed off the power do my hawk-o-meter - which is in fine form since Hayden is in town I must be feeling his aura. At about 15 or so, we were planning our extension (not having ever done this route and wanting at least 20) and I predicted that the run would be 21.17. As I hit the watch at the end of the run, I was exactly right! I added a touch to get to the quarter. Followed up with about 45 minutes of yoga. Run was much better with the company of the crew. (Kinvara Lime 366.5)

Well, after a slow start, I still hit a goo week with some good workouts and mileage.

Goals for next week: main goal is to have no goal (for mileage), as I want to be free to back off a bit and let the body recover a bit. Plus I'll likely take Christmas off since we travel in the afternoon when I would have any time anyway.

AM - 12 Middleton. Nice morning out. Everything just seems so clear and clean on a nice winter morning. (Landreth blue 1037.9)

AM - 14 Tempo. Summer tempo loop with The Circle. We started at the corner of Staheli farm this time, so about .6 later than usual, but all of us seemed to like it better. So the miles will be a little off of before, but probably the same from here on out. 1-5:37, as Logan eased into it! 2-:36, Clyde took off like a monster, 3-:26, felt good down Mosquito, 4-:41, always a little slower at the top of Mosquito, but a little better than often, 5-:26, strong down onto the trail again, 6-:32, started to tie up a little bit, 7-:33, thought about taking it up to the usual end (Clyde had take a pit stop and Log wasn't feeling well, so I was leading now), but the last half mile I needed a pit stop of my own, so I called it at the mile mark. After we gathered back up, we planned that next time we'll just finish the 8th mile by going down the trail and bringing it back to the bridge/Clyde's for the cool. Good solid tempo, pleased with it. Yesterday, I hoped it would be good; with the lower miles this week I still want very solid workouts. (Ronin 232)

0 - really enjoyed the holiday, didn't enjoy the driving.

mid-morning - 16 Wasatch/Dimple Dell. Just a mid distance easy run. Used to stretch legs out dorm the drive and day off. Extended Wasatch into Draper and then took it up Dimple Dell which is super pretty. Started thinking about making it 20, but then remembered what the goals are for the week - not mileage, but recover and strong workouts. So brought it back and hopefully I can find a good place for tomorrow's repeats. Finished up with 20+ minutes of yoga. I have been trying to incorporate this routine I found on the internet for injury prevention at least once a week if not more. (Kinvara lime 382.5)

mid-morning - 15 5xMile. Warmed up for 5 down to the trail by the Tracks tracks which I figured might be the clearest and safest place do to repeats, with 1.5 at Tinman. Most of the Tinman was on the mile route which was just over a half on the trail, but then it crossed the road, so I turned up a block and into a good neighborhood which looped back toward the trail to finish. Actually is a pretty good place for repeats and I'll use it again if I ever have a workout like this again while I'm up here. Goal was to keep the first few more relaxed and the try and push the last bit more. 1-5:20, felt very good and relaxed, actually kind of chilled into it. 2-:17, relaxed more at the start and made it a bit more consistent throughout. 3-:14, felt really goo here too. 4-:08, decided to switch directions as I thought it would be faster starting inthe neighborhood and finishing on the trail, but I decided I actually didn't like the flow of it that much and if I do them again I'll just go the other direction the whole time. Felt great for the first half, but tightened up at the end. I may have kind of freaked myself out because I was sub 5:00 pace for over 2/3 and I thought that I was going to pay for it on the last one, which is maybe true, but I should have just kept it flowing. 5-:06, started off slower than the last one, but really pushed hard the last section and ended it solid. Pretty solid workout and I was pleased with it. I had started to think that the solid sets of miles I had last month were just a fluke, but this brings back my confidence in them. Cool was a bit of a bummer climbing back up the benches. Finished up with some yoga again. (Mana 569)

AM - 13 Willowcreek. Ran up Creek and Danish Roads and around our old neighborhood then back via Willowcreek; only getting lost a few times. Put the mileage right on though. I was pretty tired this morning and it was a pretty slow run. Ran in my new Kinvara 4's - I really don't like shoes until about 50 miles in, and then they are prime until about 400 miles, so they felt kind of hard today. (Kinvara White 13)

Week was a very good recovery week. Had solid runs for 5 days of running. Was able to get some yoga time in. And hit two positive workouts.

Goals for next week: get back into some higher mileage and again a couple solid workouts - mile repeats and a wave tempo (and if super antsy something else...hills?)

morning - 11 GS. Not a lot of zeal this morning, but glad I got it done. (Kinvara White 24)

afternoon - 6 Highland/CC. Took the girls to the park and went and got a few miles in. Dropped off Highland into Coral Canyon and made a little loop there. Felt a little more into it than this morning. Cleaned out my closet with the intention of getting rid of some old shoes - which I did, but none of them were active... In fact I actually brought back some old Asics Stratus that I wore this afternoon. They actually felt very good. (Stratus black 1020.95)

AM - 14.5 Tempo loop. Approached the tempo a little different today. Started off with 2 miles at regular AT tempo (probably around 5:40 and 5:35 based off what Clyde's splits were, but my watch was set for this next section of the workout so not too sure), then went into a wave tempo with 2 mins at LT pace and 5 mins at AT pace - 5 sets. This was a brutal workout. The first set was really good and the quick section was actually faster than LT (what my goal actually will be someday) and the AT was in the 5:30's (also the goal), but then it just got tougher. Was able to keep the next 4 LT's at 5:15 ave, but the AT's were a touch off around low 5:40's (didn't get a full 5 mins on the last one, as the tempo section ended, but it was especially tough and a bit slow). The hardest part was to hear the watch beep and mentally wanting to drop into a recovery, but physically only being able to dial it back a little bit. I'll do a few more of these before Phoenix though and get better at it. (Hyper speed 2 392.5)

afternoon - 6 North Desert. Was thinking about doing Dino Tracks, but as I got near the trail, my legs were a bit tired from this morning and I decided to do the ND since it is easier. (Landreth blue 1043.9)

Pretty pleased about this year. Had some good races, overcame some injuries and had a lot of good times putting a bunch of miles.