Relentless

mid-morning - 7.5 Dino Tracks.  Finally broke in the new New Balance 101's.  Allyson warned me that they would get dirty, and I told her that was the goal!  Run started very cold and all the mud was frozen, but along the south facing cliff slopes the ice was melting and the trail was very muddy - loved it!  Calf felt great and I think I will be able to keep going okay next week.  Molly's Mile.  (NB101 7.5)

Week was okay in that I think I took pretty good care of my leg and with a couple days now till Monday morning, it should be strong for next week.

Goals for next week: get back to normal (whatever that is!).

And since this is the 1st of 2011, I guess I'll throw out some year-type goals.  First, I think I have a couple good races (marathons) in me yet, so I would really like to keep up the good push for that to come to fruition.  A solid training season, with better race circumstances that last year, should yield something decent.  Second, as I always want to do, enjoy running and don't let it become work without a meaning.  Third, keep developing all the running around me - the team, the youngsters and anyone else.

AM - 3 Dogtown.  Forced myself to get up (not easy to do after 2 weeks of chill life) and got a nice 3 in.  Stepping out the door to my surprise I was greeted with another inch of snow!  I ran pretty hard (as I plan to continue doing on my morning runs) and the leg felt very solid.  Not a long run though, as I am trying to not get to frisky to soon on the leg.  (Free 379.45)

afternoon - 9.5 Green Springs.  Ran from school up GS (started with DI extension) and around the back side into Washington and back to school.  Ran pretty strong from the beginning and averaged 6:03.  Calve only really reacted at the very end with a little tightening, so I continue to try and work that out with stretching, rolling, heat, compression, yoga.  Finished with Molly's Mile.  (Boston 376.5)

AM - 5 AC.  Ran from home over to AC and to school.  I am going to try and do this a couple times a week to save a little gas and force me to get out of bed.  It was cold this morning.  Legs were pretty tired from yesterday, so I just easied it along.  (Landreth blue 512.4)

afternoon - 9.75 Foremaster/Home.  Good to be back running with the team today; even on an especially easy paced day.  Then ran home and Molly's Mile.  Calve(s) - both actually - a little tight, so I continue to work on them.  Felt very spent today.  Probably after effects of Monday's hard run, but I was really tired.  (Triumph silver 446.8)

AM - 3 PVHS.  Took it a little shorter today so as to not get too many miles in today.  Felt a little better than yesterday, but of course what can you really tell from a short 3 miler.  (Landreth black 977.6)

afternoon - 12.5 Fire station desert.  Great run out in the muddy and sandy desert with a few of the boys.  Calves felt great.  Finished with 8xbarefoot striders and Molly's Mile.  (Stratus grey 657.35)(Barefoot '11 1)

evening - 10.5 Club.  Took a little tour of the flood damage - it was amazing to see the trails just gone, 2-3 feet of sand dumped, the riverbed totally cleaned out, and the river running in totally different places than where it had been - crazy stuff.  Had a decent little clip throughout.  Added a little more and then Molly's Mile.  Calve improving a lot.  (Stratus black 755.7)

afternoon - 10.5 Middleton/2450.  Ran Middleton with the boys then 2450.  Had planned on getting something a little quicker in - maybe some intervals or a solid tempo session - but the legs were very flat, so I just ran.  A couple miles with the dog at the end.  (Kinvara 240)

morning - 15.5 St. George 1/2.  Took the VIP tour of the new 1/2 route, since the planned one is washed down to Lake Mead.  Felt pretty flat again.  As we moved into the 2nd loop, we slowly made our way from just above Tinman to a pretty good clip (5:35), but I just felt very strained and working hard the whole time - I'm just not in that great of shape.  Finished off with a little cool and Molly's Mile.  Calve tightened up just a little bit right at the very end.  6:42 ave.  (Ohana racers 468.25)

Okay week.  Pretty tired throughout the week after that decent run Monday.  Leg improved a lot and seems to be working its way out of the woods.

Goals for next week:  would like to see a little weight come off - after the marathon, I always gain about 8'ish pounds that seem not to come back off until the summer comes around.  Get the legs a little fresher.

AM - 6 Treadmill.  Started out with 1 easy and then 1 at 6:40.  Then I took it to 6:00 for the next 4.  Goal is to try and remind legs, body and mind that 6:00 is an okay pace and not too hard to hold with a little effort.  Calve felt a bit better than the end of Saturday's run.  (Free 385.45)

afternoon - 9.75 Mall/2450.  Mall run with most of the team helping the girls do a tempo, then my own little push around 2450 - hit the 3 with an average of 6:15, so not too bad including the hill with not too much effort.  Molly's Mile when I got home.  (Stratus grey 667.1)

AM - 5 AC.  Ran to AC from home and over to school.  Felt decent this morning on little sleep and after running quicker yesterday; however, it usually takes a full day to set in, so I'll see this afternoon.  (Triumph 685.25)

afternoon - 10.25 Green Springs/home.  Easy run up GS today with the team.  I didn't feel quite as drained as I thought.  Finished up by running home and then Molly's Mile.  (Landreth blue 522.65)

AM - 5 AC.  Ran over to school again today by way of going out to Arctic Circle.  Thought I might go a little less since I'll end up with near 18 today, but felt fine after a sore hip and calves last night.  (Landreth black 982.6)

afternoon - 13.25 Fire Station Desert/home.  Hit the same run that we did last week on Weds. up into the desert by the Fire Station and around the sand for a bit and back to school.  Then 8xbarefoot striders (a pretty good set - I think the boys might be getting antsy for some workouts) and then home and Molly's Mile.  Feeling pretty decent and picked up the pace on the way home.  (Barefoot '11 2)(Triumph silver 459.05)

evening - 10.5 Club.  Hit the trail-Bloomington route.  A good run with a few solid pickups in it - dropped the pace to/below 5:30 on a few occasions, with a 5:20 up the Mile Repeat section.  Molly's Mile.  (Kinvara 250.5)

afternoon - 11.25 Grass/Foremaster.  Went out early to practice and got 4 barefoot in.  Grass was nice and starting to green up good.  Then ran Foremaster with the boys at a solid tempo pace - ended up being basically Tinman throughout.  It was their first tempo in a since NXR and they handled the pace very well.  Even the youngsters ran pretty solid throughout.  Finished up with Molly's Mile.  (Barefoot '11 6)(Landreth orange 815.6)

morning - 15.75 St. George 1/2.  Met up with everybody (except James) and ran the 1/2 course again - mostly because we didn't have anything else to do.  Week has had a lot of faster miles, so most of us didn't plan on pushing much.  Ended up with a quicker stretch for a few miles on the second loop and averaged 6:40 for the whole run even with the easy bit at first and cool downs.  Showcased my talent a little and helped Logan break into his truck and ended with Molly's Mile.  (Boston 392.25)

Pretty solid week.  Most miles in quite a while; but more importantly feeling good and having some quicker runs.

Goals for next week:  See what race day holds for me, but hopefully be able to push out a decent race - feel good about my effort and run strong.

AM - 14 Mustang Pass.  Pretty nice run out in the desert this morning.  Ran up Mustang Pass and in the pass I decided to run/hike up Mustang Knoll and watch the sunrise.  I imagine no one has been up there in quite some time - no reason to; there is no trail, it is in a secluded area, the top of the Knoll is small and has nothing on it - so I got up there and could see everything; clear out to Mt. Trumbull and Logan Overlook and Diamond Butte out on the Strip, all the way up to Cedar Mountain, the amazing rock canyons in front of Pine Valley, Dogtown down below, and the beautiful sunrise over Zion - it was quite Zen-like.  After awhile up there I came on down and finished out the run.  Molly's Turf Run to close the deal.  (NB 101 21.5)

afternoon - 10.5 Mall/DI.  Paced the girls on their tempo today.  Then added a couple quicker miles on DI and finished with Molly's Mile.  Felt a bit flat today.  (Landreth blue 533.15)

afternoon - 14 Grass/Dixie.  Went out and got 4.5 barefoot on the grass including 8xbarefoot striders before heading out with the boys toward Dixie High.  Finished with Molly's Mile.  I thought that taking it back to 1 run/day this week would help out my hip (that started hurting last week), but it seems to only be getting worse - I am not thrilled about it.  (Barefoot '11 10.5)(Triumph Silver 468.55)

evening - 9.5 Club.  Left hip flexor felt a little better this evening after using the EStim throughout most of the day.  I'll hit it up tomorrow to see if I can get anything else out of it for Saturday.  Legs were a little fresher tonight as well.  Added Molly's Mile when I got home.  (Landreth orange 825.1)

afternoon - 7.5 Shoe Run.  Easy run today; feeling pretty decent.  Picked it up for a couple sections on Molly's Desert Run, just to get the legs rolling a little bit before tomorrow.  (Stratus black 763.2)

St. George Half 1:13:39

I'll come back and put more in later -

Got a decent warm up in with Logan, Clyde, and Paul.  Felt pretty good and decided that if I stuck to my game plan of not going out too hard, life may be okay and I might run pretty decent - but I knew that I wasn't in great shape, so I couldn't expect a whole lot.

Race started off with the leaders (Paul, JeffMc, and Fritz) establishing themselves fairly quickly; then a couple other guys, a few jokers, and then Clyde, Logan and I.  Pace was good and I felt pretty relaxed.  Logan kept wanting to pull the pace up throughout the first lap.  I didn't want to push it too much, but I didn't want to lose him - once that happens, I always struggle.  So I tried to keep contact, but keep as calm as possible, by the hill up to the cliffs he had separated himself from me, and then Clyde was about the same distance back of me.  Going into the second lap, I had held good 5:30's throughout, but was getting tired.  Tyson joined in with me and tried to keep me going.  He told me Logan looked tired, but so was I.  I kept telling myself to relax as I fought off the desire to just slow down.  Eventually I decided to pass Logan, but should have done it earlier.  Then I had the fun of fighting through the crowds on the second lap.  Tyson tried to yell at people, and some did move, but many had headphones on and didn't hear, some didn't care, and some even yelled at me as I went by like I was doing something wrong.  It was kind of frustrating, but it actually helped me speed up a little.  I wanted to hold off Clyde, but obviously not that bad, since he went by at about .5 to go and Tyson tried to get me going and I told him no.  Then I closed back to about 5 feet behind Clyde off of the trail, but making the turn to the finish, I just decided I didn't want to kick and let him pull back up on me - I am still not sure why I did that (probably the only "bad" thing of the race).

Here are the Garmin splits (stayed right near the mile markers until 10 when it started to hit a little earlier each mile): 1-5:32, 2-5:35, 3-5:27, 4-5:29, 5-5:31, 6-5:31, 7-5:33, 8-5:34, 9-5:45, 10-5:40, 11-5:35, 12-5:42, 13-5:40, 13.1-5:40 pace (actually .2 on the watch); so not too shabby on the consistency until around 9 which is where I should have made that move around Logan instead of just holding behind him.

Overall, pretty pleased.  My best time in this race in a few years, so that is good.  And I kept my head in pretty good throughout the race.  Now I guess it is time to actually get in some sort of shape.  (Triumph 689.75)(Last Ohana 78)

afternoon - 10.5 Sunrise/2450.  Didn't run this morning because I used the excuse of recovery, which really was just an excuse - so I will get my third morning run in on Thursday to make up for it.  Went out to do hills with the team this afternoon.  I was a bit worried about this one, however, because I am a little tired and a little sore.  But I did okay and held near the boys for all 4.  Then I ran a pretty quick mile down the industrial section of 2450 (5:35) which was nice to get some of the tightness out - not that I am way sore, just a little.  And then Molly's Mile.  (Stratus black 773.7) 

AM - 5 AC.  Ran from home to school by way of AC.  Not a bad morning at all.  (Free 390.45)

afternoon - 10 Devils Loop.  Boys wanted to run something different, so we looped up by my house and past the town homes and down to Telegraph and back - distance was 6.66, so thus the name.  Ran home and Molly's Mile.  Legs and mind a bit burned out by the end.  (Landreth blue 543.15)

AM - 5 AC.  Dragged out of bed this morning, which I am proud of, hit the AC run to school.  I can tell it is going to be a long one as I am tired and my legs are worn down.  So hopefully they spruce up a bit before this afternoon.  (Stratus grey 672.1)

afternoon - 9.5 Dixie College.  Ran over to Dixie and did some barefooting and some striders.  I am totally wasted - my legs are shot.  I am going to ice bath tonight.  (barefoot '11 13)(Triumph silver 475.05)

evening - 10.75 Club.  Hit the usual route on the trails and into Bloomington (with an addition at the first).  Felt quite a bit better today, but still a little worn down.  I'll finish up the week with a single tomorrow and then see about a little workout on the Saturday run.  (Kinvara 261.25)

afternoon - 10 Foremaster/DI.  Ran Foremaster as a tempo with the boys.  We hit it pretty solid - mostly right around Tinman pace for 5 miles, with a few under 6:00, and a pretty fast 1/2 finish.  Then added a couple around DI and Molly's Desert Run.  (Ohana racers 478.25) 

AM - 13 Junction.  Ran out to Coral Canyon with some additions.  Needed to go earlier because of Ry's swim meet (which she did awesome at).  After warming up, did 2x2 mile with 1 mile recovery between.  Wanted to get 5:30 pace, but effort for both was probably closer to 5:45 (some quicker, some slower, some on, because of hills).  Never really got comfortably into it.  Added a couple with the dog in the desert.  (Boston 405.25)

Good controlled week.  Started off a little too hard, but by the end of the week, I got things going back a bit better.

Goals for next week: finish getting the legs back, have a good set of workouts, get out the mornings I am supposed to. 

AM - 6 Treadmill.  Hit the tready for a bit this morning.  It was one of those mornings that seemed to last forever and I wanted to be done.  Oh well, at least I got up and got a bit in to start the week off.  (Five Fingers 450.6)

afternoon - 9.75 Old Man Hills.  Ran over to hit some Old Mans with the team.  All the kids are looking pretty strong - especially my top 3 girls and top 6 boys.  We ran a 200, 400, and 800 (2 sets).  The 200's are just to work on speed, the 400's are solid, and the 800's are brutal.  A good workout.  Molly's Mile with Laney to finish off the day.  (Stratus grey 681.85)