Journey from 238.5 lbs to 2:38:30

In 2009 I ran just under 900 miles.

In 2010, I ran just over 1900 miles.  

I hope to be much more consistent this year as I train to do my first 50k in March and the Timp trail marathon in May 

Ran in Lindon today.  A little chilly, but not too bad.  I did some laps around a couple of large blocks north of the HD. Ran the 10+ in 1:11:57.  Did a few faster miles at the end as I try to do most runs.  Ran a 7:04 pace overall.  Last 3 miles  6:36, 6:32, 6:28.  The last mile my heart rate went up to 170.  

Ran in my screw shoes around the neighborhood, did a bunch of laps.  Wasn't sure if the trail had enough snow/ice on it for screw shoes, but I knew the neighborhood was still mostly ice.  Had a couple of the screws poke through a little on occasion when I hit the pavement.  Running on ice is much easier and more comfy than pavement, the screw heads embed into the ice instead of into my feet.  And not having skunks was a plug.  Been looking for some 1/4" screws to replace the 3/8"'s so they don't poke me anymore.  If anyone wants some running humor.  I am a winter warrior.  

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Cw5MHsO-JI8

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=theHXQP9Bo0&feature=related

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B03dFMG8nR4&feature=related

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=167JQDwm_XM&feature=related 

Ran in 10 in Lindon.  First 6 miles with Wes.  The Lindon trail is mostly clear, though a bit of snowy/slush on the park hill.

Today I dropped off the car to get an oil change and went for a 10 miles run.  Went up to Grove Creek Canyon where I ran into the Facelessghost from this blog.  I was curious how the trails up the canyon were and he was very willing to tell me about them.  I ended up going a little ways up the canyon as well as along the snow packed fireroad the heads towards AF canyon.  It was a very nice 4 mile downhill run back to my car.

Went to Antelope Island and ran 17 miles.  This was one loop of the Buffalo Run 50k.  I bought some MicroSpikes last night to wear on this run, which helped with the snow and ice a ton.  It was very beautiful out there.  Saw some bison and antelope.  I met up with the race director of the buffalo run and about 10 other people who came out to run.  A couple guys did 2 of the loops and cut out the Elephant head out and back.  The largest group did the first loop and the out and back.  I met up with them after running the split rock on my way out to elephant head, as they were almost done with elephant head. I figured I had just enough time to finish the 2ish miles to the end of elephant head and if I hurried I could catch up to them before they made it the last 4 miles back to the cars.  After coming down the hill from the elephant head trail head I passed the 2 guys who did the split rock loop, then just as the large group got back to the cars I caught up to them.  Pushed the heart rate into the 170's to do it but it felt great to pick up the tempo the last 5-6 miles.  A couple minutes later my legs started cramping up which was not too pleasant.  Took a few tums which seemed to do the trick and they settled down so I could drive back home. 

Went above orem and ran along the snow covered BST past dry canyon for a bit.  Turned around and went up dry canyon a half mile or so, then ran back to the gun range parking lot and ran up the bst staircase for a couple miles.  The sun was going down and it started to get cold and I made it to the end of the road where they stopped plowing the road.  Ended up with some good climbs, and the microspikes worked really good on the trails over than a section of the fireroad that didn't have enough snow on it so the spikes didn't have anything to sink into.  But another glorious outdoor below 10 degrees run.

Ran around lindon.  First 6 miles with Wes.  Almost got hit by a car.  Lady pulling out of her driveway talking on her cell phone and not watching to her right.  Another winter run gone.  Much warmer today than yesterday.  Almost felt like summer in comparison.  Almost.

ran from mouth of provo canyon up canyon road, up hill past osmand lane, around provo temple, around byu, down to state onto river trail, behind movies 8, carterville back to mouth of canyon. added a mile at beginning and 1.5 at end. was icy and almost went down a few times

Ran in Lindon today.  It was like summer. 50 degrees.  Ran first six miles with Wes around an 8 minute pace with heart rate around 125.  Then next 4 miles at 6:32 - 154 bpm, 6:19 - 163 bpm, 6:25 - 163 bpm, 6:07 - 174.  There were some nice uphill slopes I was going up to help push the heart rate into the 170's.  Great day for a run.  When isn't it a great day for a run.

Ran around lindon and pg. Went from Home Depotish up to Grove Canyon trailhead.  There is a nice climb up 1500-1300 south in PG.   Last four miles, 6:03, 5:58, 6:25, 6:24. 

Yesterday was the first time I had run over 18 miles since St. George, so I thought I would follow it up with a 2nd 20 miler.  My first every 20 mile back to back.  There were times when I struggled with energy, consumed some of my home made snacks, which are okay for awhile, but towards the end just didn't seem to cut it anymore.  I took a back of honey stinger gummies, and it didn't take long for my energy to come back.

 Ran with Bill, Chris and Doug.  They were starting at Smith market place, so I figured I would just start a bit earlier and run to smiths.  It turned out it was 5.5 miles to get there, and I was a few minutes late, thankfully Chris had his cell phone and they hung out waiting for me.  

We headed towards suncrest and then through Alpine to Lambert park, in and out of neighborhoods along the edge of the city until we got to the mouth of american fork canyon.  Then headed down the running path there past the high school and down by the pond at the bottom of the ravine. And circled back to Smiths.    It was a great run, and as it turns out, if I had actually finished running back to my house, it would have been exactly 26 miles.  I don't think I could actually find that route again by myself, but it was fun.   

ran the hale center course.  at least the old one.  which was still .1 short

Did a loop in Lindon.  Did one mile at 5:52 to stretch the legs

Did a short run  in Lindon.  Tapering for the 10k.

I ran the Hale Center Theater, Hale Freezes over 10k, again for the 3rd time.  Ran it last January, in October and today.  I like this race.  It has gotten much larger very quickly.  

After my 2 20 milers last weekend, I decided to not run very many miles this week to try to recover for the race today.  I have been fighting my right leg not working on and off all week, and got it working enough for the race today.

 The moved the start of the race to a side street, I think to make room for all the people at the start, this also shortened the course by about .1 from the previous 2 times I have run it.  Map my run still shows this course to be 6.2 miles though, so I guess running the tangents, or not running them, not sure which, makes it come up .2 short on the gps.  

I lined up at the front for the start and headed out strong.  There was a decent sized group of people who started off quick.  One guy in particular who jumped about 30 feet in front of everyone else for the first half mile or so then he started pulling away from there.  One interesting thing about this course is that you aren't sure until the end of mile 2 who you are racing against since the 5k and 10k share the course to that point.  I was in six place coming into the split and only 2 people peeled off to the left to head down to geneva.  I just held on and was watching my heart rate to make sure I wasn't loafing the rest of the race.  The HRM freaked out the first 2 miles, as usual, it had me hit a 214 heart rate.  

So I knew I was in third place at that point.  My parents were leap frogging me on the course and at one point let me know that the 4th place runner was pretty far back, so at least I didn't have someone breathing down my neck the whole time.  1st, 2nd, 3rd and 4th, we were all spaced out at least 500 yards from each other, if not more.  I knew I was a bit faster than my ran in October and was very surprised when I stopped my watch and it had a 35 on it.  I went from a 40 minute 10k to get 2nd last january, to a 35:52 this january to get 3rd.  The competition has been getting tougher, but I have been fortunate and have yet to not set a PR on a comparable course since I started running 2 years ago.  I know this streak will eventually end, and it will be a sad day when it does, but I am very curious to know how much faster I can push this body before I stop setting pr's.   

My splits were,  5:38, 5:34, 5:58, 6:20, 6:29, 6:08

Did a large loop around Lehi.  Woke up at 4am, which was a whole 15 minutes before I had planned to get up.  I thought celebrating a good race on Saturday deserved a nice 20 mile victory lap, especially since I didn't do to many miles last week to recovery for the race.  And since I only have 8 weeks until my first 50k, I figured I may as well start really training for it. 

It was much colder heading north than the temp indicated, due to the very nice wind.  so I enjoyed the only 3 mile stretch of north run to begin with.  Heading south I couldn't feel any wind at all so actually kind of got warm.  I had sort of measured most of this loop once, but wanted to run it to see how far it really was.  It was a little icy in spots, in particular pioneer crossing concrete road was very slippery, so stayed on the sidewalk for that stretch.  And when I got back to the trail, back to familiar territory, and knew I had 5 miles left, that was a good place to be.  I ate nothing before hand, and had 2 of my freshly made chex/honey/almond/sugar snack cubes during the run, which seemed to be enough for today. I used endomondo on my phone today so my wife could track my run, which is where the map came from.  I made it back to the steps of my house when the battery died.  So between pandora and gps/endomondo, it made it 20 miles, and about 3ish hours out running.  

Ran trail 51, well some of it.  It was pretty snowy. Put the microtracks on partway up 51 after dry canyon.  One I got on top, ran into some deeper snow.  Most of it was crusty so could kind of stay on top of it.  But would occasionally break through up to the knee. One the trail 31, or 37, with 51, that is up on top, 51 looked just brutal with the snow.  So I headed more south on the trails that head towards the gun range.  Trail wasn't too bad, though it is chewed up pretty heavily.

Ran from gun range on bslt to grove creek. Once I got to grove creek I tried to find the trail that the timp marathon uses to go up the front that meets with the grove creek canyon trail.  I partially found it, enough to know that it is one steep, crappy climb that will not be fun during the race.  But it gets over soon enough.  reblistered my blister on the left foot.  Love the double blister.  

Miles through Lindon

Ran from House in Lehi, Up Suncrest and around point of the mountain.  The Up on the south side is much better than the down on the north. Just too steep to be comfortable.  This was my longest training week ever.  First time over 65, I think, maybe it was 63.  But either way, longest week ever, by at least 10 miles.  Writing this on Sunday, and surprisingly not sore at all from this weeks runs, which I was pretty tired and sore yesterday.  Though my left  knee is slightly stiff/sore, which is very uncharacteristic for me.  Hopefully it isn't really anything.  One week closer to my first 50k, not sure how many miles I should put in before hand to be ready for it.

Never sure on how to split fast vs slow miles.  Somedays a 7:30 seems fast and somedays it seems slow.  For purposes of this posting, I will say anything under a 6:52 pace is fast, since that turns out to be a 1:30 half marathon pace, or very close to it.  And that was also my average speed.

Ran 12 in the AM on the JRT.  It was a great morning to run.  A little snow, a few slick spots, great temperature.  Headed south on the Jordan River trail, after a 1 mile warm up at 7:46, I decided to try to push the pace a bit, here and there.

1 7:46   150 bpm

2 6:31 159 bpm

3. 6:44 151 bpm

4. 7:19 134 bpm

5. 6:56 143 bpm

6. 7:19 144 bpm

7. 6:49 143 bpm

8. 6:05 164 bpm

9. 6:49 150 bpm

10. 6:52 155 bpm

11. 6:34 151 bpm

12. 6:35  161 bpm

Ran 8 at lunch in Lindon. 

 Ran first 5 or so miles with Wes.  Headed out on our old Walmart run, and when I figured I was out far enough to be at 8 when I got back, I picked up the pace for the last two miles.  6:44, 6:24.  I must say, putting down a 6:24 for mile 20 for the day is not too shabby.  And still feeling good.  I could have run more.  Garmin says I burned 2900 calories in the 2:25 I ran today.  

 13. 8:32 128 bpm

14. 8:49 127 bpm

15. 8:45 124 bpm

16. 8:04 122 bpm

17. 8:06 122 bpm

18. 7:50 129 bpm

19. 6:43 147 bpm

20. 6:23 164 bpm 

AM  Ran and out and back south on the JRT.  Did a one mile speed run of 5:46, I think.  Need to double check the watch.  Thought I was going faster.  Love the feeling after going fast.  Makes every run seem better somehow.  It is also interesting after going faster, how faster paces seem slower for the duration of the run, well, some of the duration, guess it depends on how much farther you go.  

Ran 6 miles in the pm on the Bonneville Shoreline trail.  Took some brand new blue shoes and brought back some brand new brown shoes.   

Ran 13 on the JRT, 7:32 average.  Ran into another stupid skunk.  Not sure why they think running down the trail for a quarter of a mile will get them away from the runners.  Takes them awhile to finally head off to the side.  Having a little tightness in the arch area of my right foot after the run. Hopefully just a very temporary thing.

 Ran 8 more miles.  3 of them with Chris and Jodie which helped me to go faster.  I averaged  7:04 pace the last 8 miles.  Felt much better for this later run

Ran up Lake Mountain this morning with Scott and Seth.  It was almost a 3000 foot climb.  Love the hills. Absolutely spectacular run, both up and down.  Really loved the new cascadia 6's.  

Ran another 6 through Lindon.  Was feeling very fatigued.  Last mile I picked up the pace which felt much better.

Ran on the bonneville shoreline trail from orem soccer park about a mile and a half past grove canyon.  Love the new comfort ride of the cascadia 6's.    No hot spots, no discomfort.  May be the most comfortable shoes I own.  Forgot the garmin this morning.  May be the second time ever I have forgotten.  But at least remembered the gps on my phone, which sometimes tracks up to a half  mile short.  But I think compared to Nick's garmin where we turned around, should have been 15, which the phone said when I got back to the car.  This is the most I have ever run in a week, following a week which I ran the most miles ever.  Slightly twisted both ankles this morning on the chewed up trail.  Horses and mountain bikes when the trail is muddy really makes it dangerous on the ankles.  Just have to go slower and pay much more attention I guess.  

JRT south

Ran with Chris and Jodie.  Did 4 mile tempo run with splits at 5:54, 5:49, 5:43, 6:00

Ran 20 in 2:29.  did loop from Lehi, up frontage road to draper, over to red wood road and back.

Ran 12 in 1:26

Knee started to get sore on the inside portion.  I think it is coming from some knots in my quads, which probably came from suncrest a couple of weeks ago, just in there long enough to cause some tendinitis. 

splits .  1:34,   6:45 average

7:38

7:08

6:56

6:53

6:38

6:54

7:02

6:38

6:33

6:33

6:19

6:44

6:15

6:09 

Knee started to act up, so only ran 2 to try to rest it up in hopes it will get better soon.  Lots of ice, massage and ibuprophin.

Decided to see how the knee would do today.   So got up at 4, out the door around 4:45 (I need to gather my stuff and get better organized the night before).  Went out on the JRT south to saratoga springs.  Made it to the end of the trail just past the golf course which turned out to be exactly 10 miles out.  Which also was just past the turnoff to Lake Mountain, which give me a good idea for about a 30 mile run from my house to the top of Lake Mountain and back, when I can do it with the same pair of shoes.  Maybe when the snow is gone on the road up there.  

Anyway, the splits aren't anything to write home about, didn't do any sub 7 miles today, just kept a nice uneven pace, mostly in the 7's.  Averaged 7:33 in the AM 20, and 7:47 for the 6.3 in the PM.  

 The knee got a little sore around mile 10, and stayed a little sore most of the day.  After I got back from the 6.3, it suddenly went away, so keeping on the ice and hope it doesn't come back. 

did an easy 8 on the JRT this morning.  Knee getting more sore as the day goes on.  Hoping to get out later for 12 with Chris and Jodie, not sure if I'll have the glycogen to keep up, or the knee that will actually work that long, but I'll see what I can do.

 Did 13 in the PM.  First 9 miles were pretty good, well first 3 sucked, almost turned around then, but then ate some honey stingers, and started feeling pretty good for the next 5 miles.

Did a few under 7 miles, then hit mile 10, well part of mile 9 and the rest of the run, was completely drained, out of energy, struggling to keep going.  Very brutal finish.  Still ran 13 in 1:36, but it felt very slow those last few miles. 

Ate bowl of cereal at 5am.  Hot cereal at 7:30am., snack at 9am, first lunch (veggie lasagna at 11am, granola bar at 12:45, honey stingers at 1:30, burrito and taco at 2:45.  Hopefully I will gain enough energy and stop eating so much, at least until dinner. Trying to keep energy up, is a little hard.  Burned 6800 calories the last 2 days. 

Went in the afternoon with Chris and Jodie.  Didn't run this morning so I would have "some" legs to do a tempo run with 2 people who are considerably faster than I am.  We did a 3 mile warm up to provo canyon, then the first 1 1/4 miles of temp we went up the canyon, turned around and finished at the gas station at the mouth of the canyon.  I was able to stay with them for about 1/3 to a half a mile.  Looking at pacing per quarters,

Time - Pace 

1:21 - 5:27

1:26 - 5:44

1:27 - 5:49

1:36 - 6:24

1:34 - 6:19 (last uphill quarter)

1:29 - 5:58

1:26 - 5:47

1:26 - 5:48

1:26 -  5:47

1:29 - 5:58

1:22 - 5:31

1:32 - 6:08

My heart rate only maxed at 178, average bbm 168 for  mile 1 (5:54 pace),  171 bbm mile 2 (5:58), 175bbm   mile 3 (5:50), which tells me I could have gone faster, I race 5-10k around 180-185, usually. 

I was pretty happy to keep an under six pace after the mileage of the past 2 days, and fighting this knee, which still comes and goes.  It felt mostly better by the end of the mile 3 warm-up. 

An easy 12 on the JRT in the AM. 

10 in Lindon.  Legs still feeling pretty trashed, so taking it easy in hopes of having a good run on Antelope island tomorrow. 

Went to Antelope island.  Ran with jun, Brian, and mike?  maybe mike, have bad memory for names.  Anyway, it was awesome.  Very different than with dirt vs the snow I had last time 2 months ago.  My right quad has been getting sore the last few days and I was worried it would flare up today, and sure enough, it did at about mile 10.  And just got progressively worse the last 9 miles.  Was feeling very hobbled, though still keeping a 7:30 pace for most of the way back. Wish I knew the names of the trails better.  The other guys were heading out to buffolo knoll for another six but my quad wasn't going to make it so caught a ride back to my car with another guy who is running the 50k.  Looking forward to some tapering weeks, and recovering from this week, get rid of all these aches/pains/sore spots. Wish I could have made it another 2 miles to hit 100, but oh well.

BST - Gunrange to Battlecreek

Large loop in Lehi-AF

Lindon loop

Provo Canyon

BST from gunrange past grove creek

Lindon loop

Provo canyon

taper for buffalo run

I have been on a forced taper the last 3 weeks fighting some injuries.  So I was quite rested going into this race.  I felt very good the first half of the race, staying with the leaders the first four miles, and finishing the first 25k in 2:00.  This was 8 minutes faster than I had guessed I would do.  This was a tale of 2 halves.  Within a mile of the 2nd loop I started having stomach issues, and my energy was gone.  I had not kept up on water or fuel very well the first 25k.  And now my stomach was not wanting anything to help things along.  I ran when I could, and walked on and off the up hills.  With about 7 miles to go my groin muscles started to cramp up, so I threw down some calcium and more electrolytes.  They eased up some, but being nauseous everytime I ran from about mile 18-26, really slowed things down.  Then leaving elephant head for the last time my stomach finally started feeling ok, so I picked up the pace for a bit, caught a couple of guys who had passed me and was doing good, but with about 2.5 to go I had a side ache that felt like someone had stuck a knife in my ribs.  Dealt with it as best I could the last couple of miles but couldn't keep up with the 2 guys anymore.  Finished the 2nd loop 48 minutes slower than the first lap.  It was a fun race, even with the issues.  

Tempo run with Chris and Jody

Hogs hollow to corner canyon

Lindon to grove creek

Lehi to Saratoga Springs

AF to alpine 

Timp Park to Rock Pile

Lindon loop

Ran the SLC marathon course today as a nice training run, turned into fast tempo run. Didn't taper this week, didn't carbo load, didn't really prepare in any way to run this race this week.  Just went out to have a good long run.

Ran into Skip at the start, who was running the half, so decided to hang with him until the split.  Wasn't really paying attention to the pace or heart rate at this point other than to notice that I wasn't near my 160 bbm I kept at St. George for those first miles.  So could have picked up the pace there a bit.  I didn't stay on top of fluid or nutrition as much as I should, as I seemed to have hit the wall around 20 when I slowed down around the same effort level.  Need to figure out how to maintain a more level energy intake.  

Looking at my finish time I could have taken 10th overall with this effort.  Now I'm hoping to get into St. George and continue to build this year and see what an honest effort actually looks like.  I've noticed over the last several months a significant decrease in heart rate for same pace improvement.  Not sure what triggered this jump in efficiency, may just more miles, certainly not consistency.  Still missing too many days a week running. But very happy with this outing.  Set a PR over St. George by about 2:30, which is also a plus.

1.   6:23 142 bbm

2. 6:31 160

3. 6:17 152

4. 6:18 148

5. 6:27 153

6. 6:36 159

7. 6:47 159

8. 6:40 156

9. 6:41 160

10. 6:22 155

11. 6:28 158

12. 6:34 160

13. 6:45 159

14. 6:16 157

15. 6:17 160

16. 6:29 161

17. 6:31 160

18. 6:32 162

19. 6:40 161

20. 6:48 153

21. 6:51 159

22. 6:56 157

23. 7:04 158

24. 7:03 155

25. 7:44 155

26. 7:00 154

.2 1:02 157 

BST

Ran a 17:42 5k on a flat course.  New pr

Lindon loop

Timp Park to rock pile + extra loop of 33-51

Paced this race.  First time pacing.  It was a good time.  

lindon loop

dry canyon up to grove, scouting race.  still lots of snow

Grove creek, checking trail conditions for race

Lehi to Saratoga Springs on JRT

Lehi to Lake on JRT

Grove creek

Lehi on JRT

I have not been training very hard the last 2 months, just kind of in maintenance mode, trying to not aggravate some little injuries.

This course has a reported 5100 feet of climbing, at least that's what Garmin says.  Felt pretty good at the start.  Within 1 minute of the start I pulled ahead and stayed there for the first 16 miles.  I think at one point I had a 3-4 minute lead.  The climb up the front of grove creek around mile 12 I noticed several runners gaining on me as I hiked up the very steep section.  I held them off for 4 more miles, but by the time we were closing in on the spring my uphill legs were not wanting to run anymore.  After the spring the snow started, which lasted at least 2 miles.  So 2 miles of hiking through the stiff snow, breaking through, almost twisting my ankle about every 5 seconds, the snow was just a bit too hard at this point.

Going down battle creek, there are some very rocky/steep sections which I was taking kind of slow, trying to save the quads and my face, I was passed by another runner.  When we made the turn to go up to curly springs the mud started.  As I turned off the trail I noticed that the small stream was much larger and deeper and the only way across was to go right through.  So running through 5 inches of water instantly got the feet drenched.  Which turned out not too bad since the next 3 miles was inches of mud/clay/water.  Drenched the feet in mud and muddy water, pulling myself up with trees trying to climb the very steep, very deep muddy section of trail.  

 When we got to the dry canyon aid station where the half and full courses recombine the trail was in perfect condition the rest of the way.  After trudging to the top of the trail 51 climb I started feeling more energetic so I started picking up the pace and ended up catching 3 of the people who had passed me with about 2 miles to go.  The last half mile or so is on a steep gravel road leading to the finish.  There was a young runner up ahead so I decided to try to catch him just in case he was someone who had passed me, (couldn't really remember, brain a little foggy by this point).  So I started picking up the pace, and he noticed I was gaining on him and so he started going faster.  We ended up going at about a 4:30 pace to the end of the race, I just barely couldn't catch the youngster, but he was in the half anyways.  

 I was kind of surprised that I ended up in 2nd with the people that had passed me and I wasn't sure if I had passed those who had passed me, since the half and full runners were mixed up by that point.  The first runner came in about 10-13 minutes in front of me.  Gained 1 minute per mile the last 10.  

 I had written down times when I thought I would hit aid stations for my parents and family to be able to see me and ended up within a couple minutes of all the times I had guesstimated at.  Very happy with the run.  Great day to be outside. 

JRT

suncrest from smiths

JRT to Railroad bed

Lehi north on jrt

lindon loop

Paced the 3:20 group for UVM.  It was a good time. Had a nice group for 18-20 miles then started dropping everyone.  Enjoyed the supported long run

JRT south

Lindon loop

Ran down Avon pass.  I did 2 5:15 miles, which are the two fastest back to back miles I have ever run.  The aided downhill certainly helped. 

Big Springs until we hit snow

Loop around the G.  Up battle down grove.

Big Springs towards windy pass on gwt.

Lehi south on JRT

Gunrange, up dry, over curly, up battle, over baldy saddle, Peaked Baldy, down GWT through provo canyon

From Dry Canyon around Baldy, down battle to curly 

Lehi Loop

Gun range, BST to Grove, over Baldy Saddle on GWT, provo canyon back to gun range with Scott.  Love this run.

Provo canyon to south fork

Provo canyon

Provo canyon

Lehi south on JRT

Lehi north on JRT loop into Riverton, back through narrows

Lehi north on jRT

Provo Canyon

Ran a big loop in Lehi.  Very nice temps for a run.  

Went out thinking I was going to do 12-14.  First 3 were brutal, tired, unmotivated, Pandora not working.  After stop in Willow Park decided to just pretend I am tapering for my race on Monday and headed back home.  Ran into Rob who was just heading out so ran another 6 with him.  Did mile 11 in 5:44.  Not totally pushing it, but pretty close. Felt good to go fast.  Back is still messed up, it is very unstable at the moment and pinches at the slightest mismovement.  Hope I can get it working right for next week.

Ran the temple loop from Orem Soccer park, down to 700 south in provo and back on carterville.  Good run.  

Provo Canyon to south fork

Small loop around Lehi, taper, unrust run.

I decided to do this race instead of hobblecreek this year.  It appeared that it would be a faster course, and running something new is always fun.  The race started about 20 minutes late, which wasn't too bad so we could actually see all the potholes in the road.  My only goal in this race was to come in under 1:20.  I figured I would go out as fast as was comfortable and as usual, kind of watch the heart rate and make sure it didn't get too out of hand.  I noticed that the pace on the watch was kind of messed up through the first couple of miles, so really didn't pay much attention to it.  When we started I tried to keep my friend Scott in sight for as long as possible, which worked until about mile 6 or 7 when there were no longer any straightaways long enough to keep sight of them.  Was happy when the canyon finally ended, was starting to feel it in the quads and hips, as well as my left ankle which likes to stop working after extended downhills. 

There were several people in front who I kept in sight and wondered if I would eventually out pace them.  I ended up catching one guy around mile 9 and a 2nd one on the last mile.  Looking at my heart rate it looks like I could have pushed a little harder those first 4-5 miles.

 5:33          172 bpm

5:54 180 bpm

5:52   171 bpm

5:43 166 bpm

5:31 166 bpm 

5:33 165 bpm

5:43 166 bpm

5:48 169 bpm

6:08 176 bpm

6:00 178

 6:01 178

6:16 179

5:59 180

:27 182 

 Since they didn't bother updating the results to add in the guy who didn't have a start time but finished in front of me, I'll put me to 4th where the results show me.

Around neighborhood.  Feeling sluggish.  

got called into work during run, had to cut it short.

Provo Canyon.  A few faster miles.

Loop through Lehi, around Thanksgiving point

Spend 5.5 hours on Timp running up, and then part way down, then a some back up.  Snow slowed down both directions.  Fantastic day to be on the mountain.  

Recovering still from Timp excursion.  Inner Quads sore.

averaged 6:54 pace over 11 Miles.  Went North on the JRT to redwood.

Ran with Chris from Brent Brown toyota to utah lake.  Very hot, really draining.  

another sluggish start.  

Very sluggish start for the first 3 miles.  Keeping it slow for big run tomorrow to pace Wes and get back to Vivian

Started at Vivian and run up 4 miles to the top of  South Fork to the start of the Provo River Trail half marathon.  First four miles was in 36:49.  Found Wes and the race actually started on time without a timing mat and with the honk of a truck horn.  The plan was to try to keep Wes on pace for a 1:30 for as long as possible.  We stayed under pace for the first four miles but his breathing seemed heavier than normal, and the pace slowed considerably.  It seems that we have run up Provo Canyon and back for a twelve mile run and kept a better pace through the second half of the run. My heart rate averaged 135 for the half marathon portion of today's run.  We finished the half in around 1:33:40 ish. Averaged a 7:07 pace for the race.  I hung out at the finish for a couple of minutes then headed back out up to Vivian.  Was feeling stronger the farther I got up the canyon and was feeling comfortable at mile 24 for the day doing a  6:51 going up to Vivian.  My average heart rate for the last 7 was 148, still taking it easy. Great run, left Quad pretty sore though, still some left over from Timp, as well as something odd going on with left hip and knee occasionally.  Wes ended up setting a PR by a few minutes over last year which was the real goal.  

Ran from Big Springs to Lightening ridge. Trashed the inner quads pretty good, sore for a week.  

Ran south on the JRT to Willow.  Back to back 6:21's, which may be around my St. George Pace.  Needing to starting building some miles in my zero'd Launches to get the calves prepared for St. George in the Kinvara's. 

Ran South on JRT to end of line, which is at the end of the Saratoga Springs golf course.  Then 3.5 miles up Israel canyon.  I have eyed this run for awhile, actually wanted to peak it, but was running out of time and water by this point, as well as didn't want to trash my already trashed quads any more than necessary.  Kept a steady pace around 7 minutes, give or take 20 seconds on the way back.  I'll need to do this again but finish the job which should make the run around 30-31.  Either that or run around Timp.  Or both.

Ran south on the JRT with an average pace of 6:48, with a nice slow first mile of 8:00 which is about all I can do for first miles these days, if that.  Taking longer to get warmed up.  Threw in a 5:57 at mile 9 which felt great.

2nd run in 0'd shoes for the year.  Felt really good, calves not complaining yet.  My pace sure fluctuates when not running with anyone.  Did a 5:50 for mile 7. 

Ran with Wes from provo canyon to Vivian and back.  He was struggling on the way back so with 3 left I picked up the pace with a 6:33, 6:43 and 5:36 which felt really smooth today, especially considering the pain I was in last night.  Just as I walked upstairs to go to bed my left leg, hip and low back seized up and clamped down on the nerves.  I could barely walk, couldn't move anything without being in tons of pain and didn't think there would be any way I could make this run today.  But when I woke up, I was able to move a few things in my back and hips and was feeling much better.  

Ran 20 to end of Path in Saratoga Springs.  Did some good tempo miles.  Mile 12-19 were below 6:30 and 6:20.  Felt really comfortable.  

Ran 10 on JRT.  Did some more tempo miles around 6:30

South on JRT.  Easier run today.

More tempo miles around 6:40, south on JRT

Mostly easy miles other than a 5:44 at mile 7, south on JRT

20 on the JRT

Ran with Scott and Chris on the JRT

Doing recovery miles, hoping legs and calves will feel springy by Saturday

South on JRT

6 South on JRT

Paced TOU

Came in 2nd at lehi 2100 north 5k

This was my 2nd year of running marathon's and 2nd St. George Marathon.  The last few weeks since the Nebo half were not ideal at all leading up to this race and may have contributed to my kind of falling apart the last 4 miles.  It took 2 weeks for the quads to work properly after Nebo, so I wasn't running alot, other than pacing Top of Utah at 3:20, trying to do just maintenance miles while trying not to re-aggravate the quads, also dealing with a cold that moved into the lungs the week before the race.  I got my normal taper miles in the week of, so that was good, and started to feel pretty decent leading up to the race.  

 We ended up on a very late, very crammed bus and I barely had time to wait in the portopotty line and get out and in the chute before the race started.  No time for warm up.  And man was it warm at the start.  I could tell it was going to be a scorcher.  

 The goals for this race were, finished under 2:50, possibly run 2:45, feel like I raced the whole way.  I was sort of paying attention to my heart rate this race, I felt like I could maintain around a 170 bpm and still finish okay, and that seemed to work out for most of the race.  I think the final 8-9 miles I was just in survive the heat mode.  I started dumping water on me at the first aid station and continued throughout the race.  No matter how much water I dumped on me it would be evaporated within the next mile and would be back to too hot the mile after that.  The legs felt good, though somewhat tired, and just low energy those last 8 miles.   

 Will finish this later

Lindon miles

Trail 51

South on JRT

Timp park to rock pile, circle around 51-33 down cliff trail

I paced the Pink series Half Marathon in Park City.  It was a great experience, and we were all expecting there to be a few women who were faster than the pace I was running, but it turned out that the woman who won ran exactly my pace for the whole race.  It was her first victory, it was a great experience to see someone so grateful/happy to win her first race.  

Trail 51, some gwt

I was heading out to run the timp trail half marathon course today and see if I could beat my time from 1.5 years ago.  I was feeling great through mile 5 and had a bit of a lead off of my previous pace, but started having achilles pain/calf pain, so had to shut it down at mile 5 and head back to the start.  Looking forward to doing this run again, just the whole thing.  I'd like to see if I could beat Kevin Tuck's time from 2010.

Ran around the G mountain with Wes.  Absolutely stunning up there this time of year.

Ran from soldier hollow to Bridal Veil with Scott, Chris, Brody and Melanie.  Was wearing a new pair of shoes, for the 2nd time, and they ended up having a string dangling under my foot with a ball of string on the end and it tore a huge hole in the bottom of my foot.   This took a couple of weeks to fully get better, though I was able to run on it a little.   Was a great run, other than the patch of skin getting larger and larger and sliding around, making every step more and more painful.

Ran Big Springs.  Another incredible scenic run.  Could spend all day running around these trails.

Did some speed work with Chris and Scott, and someone else, been too long.  Foot still having issues.  

A kid in our neighborhood was doing a food drive/eagle scout project 5k.  I entered and won.  Braden Smith ran with me the first two miles, he just ran in the state high school meet a few days before this, and I hadn't ever ran against him while he was in shape.  After mile 2 I slowly pulled ahead of him until the finish.  The new flesh cracked next to the large old callus and caused some new pain.  

Noon run in Lindon

Ran the 10k course with Wes

Ran in Cedar Hills with Scott, Brody and Melanie.  Love the winter freezing headwind out of AF canyon.

This is the fourth time I have raced this course, well, 2nd at this distance, they moved the starting line up a bit so the 5k is closer to a 5k and the 10k is just under 6.  But at least it is a consistent length now so I can compare times.

 Leading up to this race I messed  up my back Thursday night, so Friday morning I was pretty crooked and wasn't sure I'd be able to run at all.  My normal chiropractor isn't in town on Friday's so I ended up going to a chiropractor who had been setup at the end of a race last year.  He was able to straigten me up enough so I could run Saturday morning.  I was pretty concerned that the downhill would really throw my back into a mess if it wasn't working properly at that point.  

 I went for some warmup to see if the back, hips and legs would seem to be working for me, and after a few minutes of jogging around they seemed like they would work okay.  So I had hope that I would be able to keep my top 3 streak alive.   I didn't see anyone I recognized running the 10k that I was overly concerned about.  Clark Nielson was running the 5k this year, he won the 10k last October.  My cousin's high school kid Paxton is very fast, he ended up winning the 5k.  As usual the first 2 miles I trail a pack of people and am never sure how many of them are running the 10k until they head back up 400 North.  My friend Toni ran with me the first 3 miles.  As the runner's split Toni and I had just one runner ahead of us by about 40 yards.  I started to surge for a few seconds at a time and slowly caught back up by around the 3 mile mark.  That's when the 4th mile of the course starts heading back uphill from Geneva back to Orem.  I put on some distance on Toni and the guy who had been in front on those hills and was able to maintain the lead until the finish.  The run down the side road at 800 north is always a treat.  There is no straight path down that road, so you have to zig zag over curbs, around islands, sometimes jumping over tall curbs, always a treat to make it through that section without tripping over something or twisting an ankle over the odd terrain.  I was feeling a little oxygen deprived the last mile but strong enough to keep pushing to the finish.  It was awesome to drop around 24 seconds off my time from January, as well as getting my first 1st overall at this race. 

My splits were 

5:41     186 bpm

5:34     187 bpm

5:49     175 bpm

6:13     176

6:25     179

6:01      181

 The watch shows a 346 foot descent and climb.

My first mile was 3 seconds slower than January, the 2nd was the same and the rest were a little bit faster. 

Ran BST to 51 loop with Wes.  Trails were awesome.

Ran to Smith's to meet up with Scott, Matt and Ryan, a bunch of 2:30ish marathoner's.  Love being the slow man in the group, really helps to keep motivated in hopes of being able to keep up with them during the marathon next year.  Ran 5 with them, Scott is tapering for NY on Sunday, then ran home.  The arctic headwind was a nice touch.  Felt great this morning.  

Ran the Grandeur Loop with Scott and Matt. First time running this peak and loop. Started at 5am. headlamp was too dim, didn't change batteries until mile 3 or 4, which really helps to see. Was icy and snowy on top, made for a slow run up and most of the down. Had a hand held flashlight that was glitching the whole time, ended up stumbling on the trail and dropping it off the side of the mountain.

Ran from my parents in Orem to Runner's corner for the waffle run.  3 mile run before the 9 mile waffle run, then 3 back.  With about 2 miles to go on the waffle run I decided to see if I could catch the 2 runners that I knew were ahead of the group I had been running with.  I dropped it down to a 6:22 then a 5:58 and caught up to them at the corner heading into runner's corner.  Waffles were good, then headed back to my parents home to help with some computer stuff.

Headed south on the JRT.  Was trying to do as fast of a mile as I could at mile 7, with probably .1 or .l5 left, the cold got to my lungs and had to slow way down so finished in 5:44.  At least the first half of that mile was at a 5:23 pace.  

Trail 51 run with a couple of new additions on both sides.  Found some new trail to take close to the rock pile and around dry canyon instead of through it.  Went backwards on the trail from what we normally run.

North on the JRT.  First time on new section of trail under 2100 north bridges, which still isn't quite open, a small section of trail isn't paved yet.

Taper run on the BST south from bridal veil.  

Ran the Half Pregnant Half Marathon put together by Jun and Matt in draper this morning.  The conditions were perfect.  40mph winds at the start, snow and ice here and there on the bst, mud, ice, wet clay, snow, more mud on the trails in corner canyon.  Couldn't ask for a funner way to spend a saturday running.  I got to have a nice chat with faceless ghost for most of the first half of the race.  I got lost once or twice, went around hills the wrong way and took a detour up the side of the mountain for no apparent reason (thought I missed a fork in the trail, thought it went up and I went down), but I ended up running fairly strong the whole race.  The last 2 miles, any climbs were really starting to slow me down, pretty much after my up the mountain detour, I was hurting going up, but straight and down were still just fine.  Even took a nice .3 mile detour at the end, wrong fork again, which about half of the field seemed to take this way too.  

The BBQ at Jun's afterwards was a blast, always good to hang out with a bunch of nutty runners.  Thanks Jun for organizing this race.  And thanks Altra for sponsoring the race and the pair of lone peaks which I hope to get and use soon.    

Out and back on the BST above Orem-PG.  Fantastic run, was doing a nice slow recovery run.  Did a couple of faster miles for 7-8.5.  7:22, 7:12 and 6:37.  

Didn't make it out to run yesterday, and ate Panda for lunch, mmmm, love Panda, and knew we were having a pot luck at lunch today, so went out for a long run this morning to burn some extra calories.  Went out south on the jordan river tail before 5 and headed towards saratoga springs.  Awesome morning for a run.  I had thoughts to doing a 5 mile tempo on the backend on the way back, but decided to just do 3 1 mile repeats at what I hope to be my marathon pace in June.  Mile 10 was 6:07 pace, mile 12 was 6:00 pace, mile 14 was 5:57 pace.  By the end of these tempo miles I start to breathe hard enough that the cold starts affecting my lungs a little bit.  Run felt great, back felt great when I got up for the first time in a couple of weeks.

6 miles in Lindon

7.13 on JRT

Did 2 runs.  Morning run on JRT, noon 6 miles in Lindon.

Did 1 800 at 2:43.  Wanted to see how fast I could do an 800 at the end of a 10 miler, too cold, lungs were burning a couple of times on this run 

slow miles in neighborhood.  Trail was icy

Lake Mountain with Jun, Crockett, Matt, Scott.  Awesome run to peak at sunrise.

Temple Loop.

Trail 51

8 mile loop in lindon

South on JRT

South on JRT

south on jrt

8.7 in morning

6.3 on trails 

8 in morning

5 at lunch.  1st run on Altra Lone Peaks.   

10 mile loop from house through lehi

15 mile loop through lehi

trails above orem

Loop through alpine

Loop through lindon

Alpine loop

JRT north, found new section of trail heading north, adds about .5

Ran with fast group today.  Did 15 from soccer park up to vivian.  Averaged 6:45 for 15.  

7:25

7:09

6:55

6:45

6:52

7:02

6:28

6:57

6:56

7:28

6:08

5:53

5:43

6:51

6:41

6:57 

Ran up American Fork canyon with Brody, Scott and Melanie, trying to escape some of the bad air.  On the way back down I ran a 5:22, 6:20, 5:49, 5:17 the last four miles.  Felt good to let the legs go for a few miles.

Ran 10 in the AM with Scott, North on the JRT.  Air was bad.  

At lunch went to Deer Creek Dam and ran up the trail for a 6 mile out and back towards midway.  First time to see the sun in awhile.   

Ran 10 going south on the JRT in the AM.  First four miles were brutal trying to wake the body up, was very sluggish and unmotivated, but slugged out 10 anyways.  Sky was starting to clear, could see some stars.

Ran 6.27 on the BST from the gun range towards PG.  Trail was in fantastic shape, a little snow on most of the trail.   Sun was out, and the arctic wind was a nice touch. 

Ran into Alpine with Scott, Reed, Mel and Toni.  Did some faster miles partway through.

6:06, 6:16, 6:11, 6:20

Roads were a little slippery in spots.  Another arctic wind run when heading north.  

Ran from Home Depot in Lindon to Vivian Park.  Felt pretty bogged down like I was starting to bonk around 19, but after Stinger, energy came back for the last few.  Splits from mile 13

6:57, 6:56, 7:05, 6:59, 7:15, 7:02, 6:42, 7:05, 6:51, 6:43

Did a Lehi Loop with Scott, Jody, Bill, Reed, Matt.  Felt surprisingly good after the long run yesterday.  With about 2 or 3 to go Scott and Jody kicked it under 5:50 pace and I couldn't keep up anymore.  Fatigue finally set in. 

Did loop through Alpine, Cedar Hills, American Fork and Highland with Scott, Toni and Matt.  Great morning for a run.  May be longest monday run ever.

Did a nice 10 mile loop with Scott that magically turned into 13 by the time we were finished with it.  Finished with an average pace of 7:00 through the hills of Alpine and Cedar Hills.

Did a 10.25 loop through Lehi and AF with Scott, Brody, Matt and Reed.  Averaged 6:46 for the 10.  

Ran a loop through Alpine with Scott and Matt.  Felt sluggish to start, but by finish was feeling fantastic.  Haven't felt that strong at the end of a run in a very long time.  Kind of surprised due to higher mileage last couple of weeks.

Ran 12 with Jody and Scott, Lehi Loop.  Felt pretty good this morning. This lower mileage week has me feeling like I'm hardly running.  Nice to be feeling more and more refreshed as I run this week.  Averaged 6:56 for 12.  

Ran a 16 mile loop with Scott, Brody, Jody, Tony, and Matt.  Average ended up being around a 7:00 pace.  Was starting a nice bonk the last couple of miles.  A nice finish to my highest mileage month ever.  We are meeting at the Orem Soccer park at 6am Monday morning.  We had a very strong headwind going North, East and West, and then back North again. South was our only break, odd wind patterns this morning.