Chad's Runs

Woke of for a 5am run on the JRP.  Felt a little sluggish and ran at 8:50 pace.  Woke up yesterday and wimped out when I saw the rain.  I should have run because when I got up and hour later the rain had stopped and the weather was beautiful.

Ran 9 miles this morning and felt great.  Ran at 8:50 pace.  I ran all the trail there is on the Jordan River Parkway in this section.  The north has Mountain View Corridor construction and the South has Pioneer Crossing construction.  There is about 4.5 miles between them.  I'm actually going to have to run on a road when I go past 9.

Wow, its hot!  I can't wait until July when it really gets hot.  It also doesn't help that I ran at noon.  I did 5 one mile repeats at a 8:30 pace.  Actually they averaged out to be 8:23, but I was aiming for 8:30.  I haven't ever really done mile repeats before.  I don't really know if that was a good pace to aim for.  If it was cooler I'm sure I could have done 8:15 without much trouble.

Well, I was 5 miles short last week.  I hope I can keep my slip-ups to the occasional one miss per week.  Today I got up and was running by 5am.  I ran 8 and felt really good; relaxed, strong.  My pace was 8:47.  I always try and run the second half faster than the first and I easily did that with a 8:10 last mile.

Ran relaxing 6 this morning at 5am.  I ran into a little surprise where the JRP goes under Lehi Main Street.  It was a lake.  Funny, because yesterday was dry.  There has been some flooding in Lehi, but what a difference a day makes.  The flooded area there was glass smooth.  There was a red warning light on the bridge that looked like two because of its reflection.  It looked as if a set of lights identical to those in the ceiling of the tunnel where placed in the middle of the floor.  It was a perfect mirror.  I meant to check my crawl space this morning for flooding, but I don't think I will have a problem.

Holy Hills Mount Goat!  I went running with a fried that lives up Traverse Mountain by Cabela's.  He is running the Wasatch Back here in a couple weeks and has been training in the hills behind his neighborhood.  We gained 700 ft in less than 2 miles.  It's been more than a year since I've ran any hills.  I used to run from the north end of the Thanksgiving point golf course to park north of Camp Williams.  That is quit the clime as well.  Any way, my quads are a little sore this morning.

Ran a nice easy 6 at a 9:30 pace.  I ran with the same friend as yesterday but instead of the hills on Travers Ridge we ran the flat roads of south west Lehi.  Last night the wind was howling but this morning it was just strong enough to keep us cool.  Although it is quite humid from the clouds and thunder storms.  I am going to run 11 tomorrow which will be my high for the year.  With Saturday's 5 the weekly total of 40 will tower over my previous high of 29.  I'm actually excited about putting in more miles and getting ready for the Top of Utah.

I originally had a 10 planned here.  I missed a mile earlier in the week so I decided to add one here and make it 11.  It rained a lot today and I thought I was going to wimp out.  Getting wet for 45 minutes while working hard and generating some heat is enjoyable.  Getting soaked and cold on a long slow run is miserable.  Well, I got lucky and it cleared up this afternoon and turned out to be a beautiful run.

 So, I started of with 11 planned but felt wonderful so I decided to run 12.  I was trying to take it slow and easy but was still running 8:45 - 8:50.  So I kept running down through Saratoga Springs with some beautiful, after rain views of the north end of Utah Lake.  My splits were staying under 9:00 so I decided on a 1/2 marathon under 2 hours.  As it shows on my short term goals, I want to run a marathon under 4 hours.  I wanted to do this last year at the Salt Lake Marathon.  I month or so before, I ran a 1/2 marathon at a 2 hour pace to see how it would work for a marathon.  I made it, but barely.  I was exhausted and winded and there was no way I was going to run a 4 hour marathon.  I ended up running 10 minutes back of my best time.  So with things going well about half way threw my run today, I threw cation to the wind and decided to test myself an see how I would do with 13.1 miles.  I ended up with 1:57:33.  I am pleased and encouraged.  With all the training miles I have planned (probably 3 times the training miles of Salt Lake), I should have a shot at it.

Got up early and ran a slow recovery run.  Average 9:38.  It was a chilly 45 this morning but with a beautiful mist above the river and wetlands as well as the fields.  I also saw a dear hopping through on of the fields.  The tunnel under main street isn't flooded any more but there is a lot of sediment left behind.  I have a twinge in my right achilles left over from Saturday's run but I don't think it will last.  I was definitely feeling the effects of the extra miles I put in Saturday.  

I have a little more bounce in my step this morning.  But as fun as that Saturday run was, I'm still not all the way back.  Ran at 9:08 pace through a beautiful morning.  Mist in the fields, pelicans in the river, a startled deer bouncing through a marsh, and a sandhill crane (I think) in the wetlands.  I enjoy these morning runs, but they sure do leave me sleepy the rest of the day.

 I was just looking at my geeky running spread sheet.  I have run more miles these last 5 weeks than I ever have in a 5 week period since I started this spreadsheet 3 years ago.  And I still have 3 or 4 more runs this week.  I started reading this blog 6 months or so before I actually started one of my own, and it has been inspiring.  I'm looking forward to pouring in more and more miles.

Ran 6 miles with a friend on the Jordan River Parkway this morning.  It was a nice relaxing 10 minute pace.  My achilles still has a bit of a twinge if I look for it, but I don't notice it at all while I'm running, so it really isn't a concern any more.  I've been aiming for 5 running days a week so I'll probably take tomorrow off and get an extra hour or two of sleep.  With all the hours I'm putting in at work and coaching my daughter's softball team, I've only been getting 6 hours of sleep the last few nights.

Nice run this morning.  Beautiful weather and I met ryandla this morning.  We met at Olympic park and ran on the Jordan River Parkway up to the top of the point of the mountain to that park up there.  I don't know what it's called.  I thought the climb was going to wipe me out but it didn't.  After we finished the 10, I went on and ran two more.  I had enough left to run those at 8:30.  Overall I ran at the same pace as the 13 miler of last week, but this one didn't wipe me out.  I hope I can stay motivated to keep increasing these miles every week.  I've gotten burned out when training for the other marathons I've run.

I was feeling great after yesterday's 12 and so I thought I might be aggressive from the start this morning.  That was a mistake.  My knees ached and I was exhausted after one 8 minute mile.  I shuffled the last five and ended at 9:11.

7 miles this morning.  It sure does take a while to get warmed up when you start at 5am.  With all of the additional miles I'm putting in each week, I don't seem to be getting any faster.  I guess all my body's energy is being used up to build endurance and not speed (8:47 avg).  I was going to run 10 this morning but I my daughter is going to Clear Creek camp for the week.  I had to drop her off at an elementary school in Lindon.

5am 10 miler this morning.  Having taken yesterday off I felt really good this morning.  I decided to cut a run out this week because of my daughter's softball tournament that took up a lot of time.  So, I ran 10 miles at 8:44.  I usually don't put splits here but I was proud of my kick toward the end and wanted to record it.  9:26, 8:47, 8:47, 9:00, 8:50, 8:51, 8:49, 8:45, 8:22, 7:42.  After my warm-up mile I was putting in really consistent times and I'm really proud of that 7:42.  Doing those last two after 8 miles is one thing.  Running those after 24 will be entirely different.  I don't have any illusions of being able to do that on race day.

Ok, no run again today.  Too much softball and work and not enough sleep.  I'm putting in a lot of time at work so I'll be ready for a 10 day trip to Illinois and back.  Next week is going to be hard to get the runs in as well.  I was worried about finding time to run while on vacation (I even put up a request for ideas on the forum) but I don't think it will be a problem.  However, I will skip the big 10-12 hour travel days.

 It is now official.  I am signed up for the Top of Utah marathon.  My wife and I decided to add a day to our trip and stay in a bed and breakfast to celebrate our 14th anniversary a month late.  I don't think there has been a single time in all our 14 years when we were a away from the kids for 2 nights in a row.  That's just not right.

 In other other non-running related news, the softball tournament was great.  I was so proud of the girls.  The progress they made over the last 2 months has been incredible.  This is a 3rd and 4th grade league with 8 teams.  I coach with my brother-in-law and both of our daughters are on the team.  We let the girls try out whatever positions they wanted during the season and had a lot of fun but finished 6th or 7th.  Once the tournament started we put the girls where they fit best and still lost our first game (up 5 runs and then gave up 7, ouch).  So we entered the looser bracket and started to win.  We won the next 3 games giving up 1 run and scoring 15-20.  Now there are 3 teams left and we are playing the Rays, team that beat us the first time (and twice during the regular season).  We had a great first inning and scored 6 runs.  We had a bad bottom half and gave up 7.   Those Rays can hit up and down the order.  We did have one play with several errors that allowed 4 runs to score, ouch.  Because the first inning took so long this game was only going to go 2 innings.  We needed some runs but only managed to score 2.  That's when our pitcher started throwing some serious fire.  This girl is only in 3rd grade.  She struck out one of their best hitters on some high heat.  We then gave up a single, had one more strike out, and two walks.  So, 2 outs, bases loaded, in the bottom of the last inning, a real nail-biter.  This girl hit a grounder to first where our first baseman scooped up the ball and beat the runner to the bag to record the last out.  WE WIN!

 So the next day we play for the championship but have to beat the team twice to win the tournament.  This other team has a dominant pitcher.  They haven't lost all year.  When we faced them during the season, the eyes of our girls were as big as saucers watching the speed of these pitches.  The stood at the plate just watching the pitches go by.  We got no hits, and never even put the ball in play.  We lost 7 to 0.  This time wasn't much different.  The girls were still intimidated.  There is a rule that only allows 4 walks per inning.  After that, balls are not counted, only the strikes.  They get a couple of hits in the bottom of the first and we give up 3 walks and two runs.  The second inning is scoreless for both teams.  The third inning one of our girls gets hit by a pitch and we collect 4 walks to score 2 runs and tie the game.  We still haven't put a ball in play.  After 2 more scoreless innings our girls are playing terrific defense but no hits.  The overtime rule puts a runner on second to start the inning.  We get a walk and couple of strikeouts.  Our best hitter finally puts the ball in play but it was a grounder to 1st to end the inning.  We give up a walk then a hard hit grounder past the 3rd baseman to score their 3rd run.  We lost 3 to 2.  But what a season.

 And what a book I've written. 

Slept in this morning and ran 7 miles starting at 8 o'clock.  I've been running at five, sometimes as late as 6.  8 o'clock is hot.  I think it was already in the mid 80's or maybe I'm just a wimp.  I took it nice and easy, about a 9:00 minute pace because I'm running 14 tomorrow.  

14 miles this morning in Provo Canyon.  I started at the mouth of the canyon and turned around about 1.5 miles up south fork road.  Average pace was 9:07 which I'm happy with based on all the uphill, especially up south fork road.  I started feeling it around mile 9 heading back down and was going to slow down.  Then a group of people passed me and I didn't think they should have been able to.  I picked up the pace and passed that group.  I kept up the pace and ran the second half somewhere between 8:20 and 8:30.  I didn't need to go that fast, but I've enjoyed testing my endurance.  I'm encouraged again, the 4:00 hour marathon goal should be easy to get.  (Are marathons ever easy?)

Recovery run this morning at 9:30 pace.  Beautiful full moon this morning, and nice and cool too.  Legs are still tired and a little sore from Saturday but I'm not injured in any way.  This week is going to be tough to get miles in.  I will only get one more, maybe two runs in the rest of the week.  I've got to get 5-6 days work into 4 because we start the drive back to Illinois Friday morning.  With 10-12 hours in the car both Friday and Saturday, I won't run.  I don't want to risk being any more sleepy.  Then Sunday morning (shame on me) I'm running the Moline Firecracker 10K.  I'm excited about that one.  The rest of next week I should have time to put in some miles, but I'm not sure how well I'll handle the humidity.

I didn't run this morning.  My 12 year old son cut his finger last night and I had to take him to get it stitched up.  He cut it with his pocket knife but it's anyones guess what he was doing with it.  He's really smart, he gets straight As; but he's really dumb.  I hope I'm not the only one with a smart/dumb teenager.  Anyway, I was up late last night and decided to abandon this morning's run.  I'll run tomorrow.  I can't run on Friday or Saturday and risk being tired while driving so if I don't run tomorrow I'll miss an entire week.