Journey from 238.5 lbs to 2:38:30

I went out early 5:30am on the Jordan River Trail.  I got to test out my new Petzel head lamp.  I discovered I need something better to cover the bottom half of my face, due to it being in the teens.  The run was an okay pace (8:15).  I am still recovering from a SI joint injury from the last couple of months. Will take some time to get my weight and speed back down.  Really enjoyed the early morning solitude.   

This morning 5:30 am, I decided to give my five finger KSO's my first long run, ever, on pavement.  As it turns out, probably not a good mileage to start with.  I also used the socks with them. I went north on the Jordan River trail to the turnaround, and about a half mile before the turn around I noticed, what first felt like the socks bunching up, but I soon realized it was a nice blister forming on the balls of both my feet right behind my toes.  Ended up still running back and got 4 very nice blisters which will take a few days to recover before I can run again.  Ended up with 8:17 pace. 

Did hill work at the Orem water tank hill. Ran up and down the hill 3 times.  The blisters form earlier in the week are still bothering me, so I ended up moleskinning them and then putting duct tape over that which made the running bearable.  Was a good work out.  I plan on adding one trip up the hill each week for awhile and see how that goes.  900+ feet ascent and 900+ feet descent in 3 miles.  Still not feeling comfortable going fast down the hill, finding myself slowing myself down, which puts extra stress on my heels, hips etc. 

Slept in until 7, but woke up more tired than I have been feeling getting up at 5.  My feet are still a little sore, so I moleskined and duct taped them up before I went out around 9.  I decided to run north on the Jordan River parkway until the turn around, then head back south until Willow Park, which I figured would be around 12 miles.  I ended up just having to run to the underpass under main street.  This was my first, time running and actually trying to maintain a certain heart rate, mostly due to the fact I spent 2 minutes looking at the garmin manual and figured out how to get the microscopic heart rate into one of the larger fields so I could actually see it while I ran.  I tried to maintain a 160 bpm pace over the 12 miles, which I ended up averaging 162 over the 12, with an average speed of 8 min pace, which was a bit faster than my earlier runs this week, but still far slower than what I was doing before the hip injury.  Very exhausted pushing to 12 for the frist time since October 3rd, when my IT band and back/hip issues really started up. Well, so far, no IT band problems, which I'm pretty sure were caused by my Si joint and back being out of alignment.   

Went running at lunch.  Decided to do a different hill today.  Ran up 2000 N. in Orem up to the gate of the dry canyon trailhead. It was a nice uphill workout.  The blisters on my feet are still giving me some pain and discomfort.  Hopefully one day they will be completely healed.  

Overall I had a 7:29 pace.  The final 5k, which most pretty much all downhill, down 650 feet, was still at a slower pace than 5k speed.  Looking forward to being injury free so I can pick up the pace a little.

I decided to run a 5k today, in the cancer clouds.  I haven't tried to run at speed for any length of time since September.  I ended up with 20:31, which is where I was around June of last year.  Not too shabby for coming off injury, etc.  Feet did pretty good today, no real pain while running.  

I headed out on the Jordan River trail in the afternoon hoping to run 13-14 miles.  I started off doing  a tempo run.  I tried to keep under a 6:30 pace for the first 4 miles, which had my heart rate around 170.  The next 3 miles went up to around 7:20 pace.  My feet started to bug me after 7, so I slowed down and ended up only running 11ish.

Went out early, and headed out to the JRT, but hit some patches of black ice, so went back into the neighborhoods and wandered around doing some slow miles.  Having some hamstring pain and tightness which started Sunday, so just took it easy.  I tried to keep good form and focus on putting my energy on going forward rather than up and down, which naturally helps to go faster.  I picked up the pace a little on the last 2 miles to a 7:35 pace which was still pretty comfortable with the sore hammy.  

Went out early 5:30 on the JRT, north to the turnaround.  It was snowing lightly with the trail mostly covered with a thin layer of snow.  No ice, which is the most important.  Very good traction on the snow, even on the hills.  Ran 9.5, Hammy still a little tight/sore, but not too bad.  Left foot behind big toe started bothering me after 7, again.  Feels like too much callous or something, but not too sure yet.  Loved the early morning snowy run.

Went out early in the snow on the JRT heading north to the turnaround.  I noticed two sets of animal tracks in the snow that went for two miles up the trail.  They looked like cat tracks of a couple of cats wandering along the trail, I guess out for a little jog.  On the way back from the turn around I noticed the nice black kitty up ahead running down the trail and chased him down the trail for a minute or so before he decided he didn't like me following him anymore and he gassed the trail.  Fortunately the neighboring houses had a path so I went out on the streets from there. 

Took it easy again, mostly due to conditions, a little slippery in places, but very nice out.

Ran in the afternoon on the Jordan River trail.  Was very nice out, about 2/3rds of the snow had melted, so kind of slushy in spots, but had warmed up to be a very nice day.  Took gatorade and left at the gate to the JRT so it would be there when I finished 7th mile.  I always say if you don't go farther or faster or both, you don't improve, so I did both today.  

Mile splits,  7:30, 6:52, 6:53, 7;04, 6:58, 7, 7:13, 7:47, 7:57, 7:58, 7:38, 7:41, 8:08, 8:25, for a total average of 7:30.  Thanks garmin 305.  Heart rate averaged 160 over the 14 miles. 

When I hit 12 miles I ran out of gas, and realized I had left my Gu, which I had been bringing and not used, but really could have.  Very enjoyable run.  I was running this far about this speeed in July.  So injury recovery is coming along okay.  Weight isn't coming off like I thought it would, but I'm sure it will eventually.  Hope to make it out of the Clydsdale category eventually.

Ran at 6am on the Jordan River Trail.  The warm weather (40's) I'm guessing, has melted all the snow off of the trail since the slush fest on Saturday so no wet or slippage today.  Very nice run, didn't try to go real fast or slow, and ended up exactly the same pace I had saturday from the 14er I did.  7:29 pace with an average heart rate of 162.    And no skunk on the trail this morning, which is a plus.  

Went out on the JRT this morning in the snow, about an inch.  Was very beautiful out running in the snow, while its snowing.  Hit a patch of ice cutting through the park and tweaked my knee a little, but not too bad, hopefully.  Took it easy in the snow and had a nice run, avg 8:23 pace over 7 miles, average heart rate 142.

Ran an easy 7

Ran 4 miles of the Hale Freezes over 10k course to check out the course.  Nice hill in the middle. looking forward to race tomorrow

Woke up very early.  Race wasn't until 9am.  Ate a go gurt, and a small bowl of cereal 3 hours before race time.  Was a little chilly out so ran without sweats, but with gloves and head band.  The race started on time, pretty well organized, course is a little jagged, and not well marked by Geneva road.  They didn't have the map marked with arrows on a 1 mile loop around a block, which may have been why the guy who actually took first place, by about 5 minutes wasn't awarded it.  Felt bad for him, he was flying.

My mile splits were  6:13, 6:07, 6:27, 6:55, 7:14, 6:36: :41.   My average heart rate was 178 which seems to be my race rate, though I wasn't feeling like I was getting tired, though I could tell I couldn't go much faster.  

From the start of the race, for about the first half mile I was probably in 7th place or so.  I could tell there was 1 really fast guy who just kept pulling away, but everyone else was keeping my same pace or slightly slower.  About the one mile mark I had passed the last two girls who were in front and  was about 30 yards behind the 2nd (awarded 1st) and 3rd (awarded 3rd finished 4th (yellow shirt) place guys.   I pretty much stayed with them for the next mile.  I passed the eventual awarded winner for about a mile around the loop, but he passed me again on the way back up the hill, but was only about 10 feet in front of me.  So the three of us stayed within 15-20 feet for the next two miles.  We passed yellow shirt with about a half mile left.  I could tell that the white shirt guy had a lot still left in the tank where I was running on the edge.  My heart rate was over 180 and we kept slowly pushing the pace coming down the last quarter mile.  I think I breathed a little too hard when I was coming back up to white shirt and he heard me and took off again and I was unable to catch him.  He won (really came in 2nd, awarded 1st, about 5-10 seconds in front of me.  Not sure how far back yellow shirt finished. 

 I ended 1 second slower than the speedy spaniard race in July.  I guess I have found some of my speed, though it hasn't felt like it.  I felt much better through this race, wasn't on the ragged edge the whole time but didn't need to be.  Was very surprised when I was awarded 2nd overall instead of third.