Training for Top of Utah 2011

I saw this quote the other day from Sasha and it cracked me up.

"I believe there is a fine line between hard and retard, and that line is at 20 miles. But marathons pay better than anything else, so if it makes a difference of a few hundred bucks and some media coverage I am willing to run another 6 in the retard zone."

Super Beautiful morning! Low 60's with a nice breeze. Just had to get in a run. Dropped Tori off at high school and was planning on running on the track to save my legs but forgot the stupid key so went to centennial park and ran asphalt and trail about 2 miles each.

Monday evening played a softball doubleheader  and it took a little time to warm up. Fortunately I didn't have to do any fast running since I play 3rd base.

4 miles real easy today. 1st mile was tough just getting going; the 2 middle miles were money and the last mile was tougher than it should have been. Maybe should have just done 3 but it sure felt good.

Avg. pace 9:14 and avg. HR 138

Next run Friday morning: probably another 4 easy

60 degrees and Gorgeous outside this morning! 5 easy with 2 strides to loosen the legs up as they are a little sluggish still. Just an easy run on the mean streets of Snoqualmie Ridge - Surprising how a few more degrees can make you sweat. Not used to it. Looks like I will have to start wearing my Sweet head bands to keep the sweat out of my eyes.

Splits 8:44, 9:09, 8:54, 8:50, 8:50 then a short walk home.

On wednesday after my easy 4 miler I ate a banana and had a power bar. Usually I drink Accelerade after my runs. Wednesday evening my muscles were still sore so I'm drinking my Accelerade right now to see if that is what made the difference.

Next run: Sat. 5 easy again

My wife decided to come home from Utah a bit earlier than expected and arrived on Friday evening. Slept in and then got up with the kids so she could really sleep in.

1 hours worth of elliptical with 15 minutes going in reverse(that puts it on the quads harder).

55 degrees and overcast...perfect running weather. Had to take Tori to school because the friend that normally takes her to Seminary goes to fast start so I will be taking her to school the rest of the 2 weeks left.

Went to a church social on Sat. Night and was talked in to running a couple more races this summer. First one is June 20th, which is exactly 3 weeks from the marathon...not sure if that's a little too quick to run a 10K that soon after a marathon? The other is late July in Seattle for the Seafair Torchlight run 8K. My friend Mark Howard runs this every year and says it's really cool at the end there are a ton of people cheering you on. 

Ran on the track to save my legs from the pavement pounding. That's a lot of round and round.

Did harder than easy but easier than moderate. Splits are 8:43, 8:27, 8:24, 8:25, 8:31

Sun popped out after 4 miles or so and started to warm up nicely. Looks like  a nice week for running.

Almost 60 degrees. Nice weather. My legs are stiff and sore from 2 softball games on Monday night. Didn't seem like it was that much running since I hit like my grandma who's 6 feet under.  This run is a street run at the ridge.

Felt good starting out though. Took a slightly hillier than normal to get a decent workout in. HR stayed at a very reasonable level too. HR avg. was 139. Pace avg. was 8:38 with these splits 8:39, 8:57, 8:33, 8:29, 8:37. Now I'm drinking accelerade as that stuff seems to keep me from getting so sore.

Next run: Thursday probably another 5-6 miler

Felt a little bit of a tweak in my left ankle so I'm going to play it safe and run Friday or Saturday.

No reason to pound it  this soon after a marathon.

Overcast and 57 degrees- Nice, Nice running weather. High School track for this one after 4 days off just to give the body a break. It's really boring running the track but easy on the legs. Some wind that was switching up at times but not too bad. 3 strides at 3 miles 3.5 and 4, just real easy ones...nothing really fast.

Mile Splits 8:50, 8:44, 8:42, 8:39, 8:45

I'm planning on running a 10K race this Saturday but not sure what kind of running I should do this week to prepare for it.

7 Easy miles @ the ridge. Overcast and about 56 degrees, beautiful for running. 

Took on the "Hill" of about 1 mile on the parkway since I haven't done anything with effort for some time. Felt good and stayed at a decent HR.

Splits 8:30, 8:51, 8:39, 8:51(big hill), 8:29(downhill), 8:50, 8:19

Avg. HR 143 and avg overall pace 8:38

Race plan for Sat. Morning Fall city fun run 10K.

Will be meeting Mark and Sommer(ran the marathon with them) and hope to keep up. Going to try to start at and stay at 7:00 pace the whole way and sprint the last bit if possible.

My first race ever as an adult was exactly 2 years ago at this race and I did better than expected for myself. I believe it was around 48 ish minutes. I stayed with Sommer for about 2 - 2.5 miles last time then told her to take off as I was running out of gas.

10k pr from last year is 45:01(7:15 pace) @ Snoqualmie Railroad days which I'll be running in mid August also.

It was raining very hard last night when I hit the sack. Was hoping it wouldn't be this morning. Woke up @ 7 am and had a banana then a power bar @ 7:30 with water.

50 degrees with partly cloudy skies. Another perfect morning for running. Got to Fall city and immediately saw the Reynolds clan. Got in line for my packet and then saw Mark and Kim Howard. Was planning on running with Mark and Sommer(all shooting at 7:00 pace) so that worked out well. Saw Snoqualmie and chatted with her and told her we were starting toward the front so we don't have to dodge a gazillion people to get our pace. It worked out very well that way. Planned to go @ 7:00 pace evenly the whole way till the end.

Mile 1  6:59  Had to dodge a few people but not too bad at all. Mark jumped out ahead after about .5 miles...he just can't run any slower.

Mile 2 7:01 Sommer and I were staying steady.

Mile 3 7:03 Stopped at the turnaround and drank water(only stop for water)

Mile 4 6:59 Just trying to keep the pace...Mark is way out so I didn't even consider trying to catch him.

Mile 5 6:55 Here is where Sommer and I started reeling in a lot of people. We got running with a girl from the high school(we think). She did NOT want us to pass her and kept speeding up.

Mile 6 6:47 Tried to keep this mile around 6:45 and was close but was getting tired. Lungs felt good but my legs were starting to turn to jelly. I had been following a tall guy with a red shirt who was the only one even close so decided I needed to pass him if possible on the last stretch. Left high school girl/ and Sommer here.

Mile .2 I screwed up by not turning off my garmin when I passed the finish line so not sure the pace but passed tall/redshirt guy. Felt great to sort of sprint to the finish. Killed my PR of 45:01 from last August by almost 2 minutes. Very happy with this race as I thought it would be hard since I hadn't done a lot of running since the marathon.

Mark is an absolute beast...he's 6 years older than I am but just keeps getting faster- he finished in 42:21

Sommer finished in 43:22 just 11 seconds behind me and she beat high school girl. She's pretty competitive so it's fun to run with her. I did get revenge on her for beating me at the marathon :-)

Talked to Snoqualmie after the race and she said she did really well also. Very happy for her.

Softball last night. Ate dinner at 9:30 after getting home. Woke up early and decided to go running earlier than I normally do. 49 degrees at 6 am.

I woke up some new muscles after my 10K on Saturday. The lower abdomen area just below the belt and above the important stuff. Very tender starting out for about 2 miles then it was OK but still could feel it. Hope it's just a temporary thing. 

Nice easy run at the ridge. Splits. 8:47, 8:50, 8:32, 8:46, 9:01, 8:58, 8:38(.15)

Not sure what this week will bring but going to run with the Mt. Si Running Club this Saturday-

Gonna be off the grid for a week or 2 just to rest up my body. Will check in on the race reports etc. 

Watched "Forever Strong" last night...good flick- typical of that genre...very predictable. 

45-50 degrees and sun is shining!

Have been feeling fine the last 2 days so decided to go run with the MSRC (Mt. Si Running Club). A little bit tender still dang it, but feeling pretty good. Will just do easy runs for the next little while.

Met next to the High School. Running was from the HS to the Sno valley trail. A whopping 5 people showed up. Sean Sundwall's sister Sommer showed up to get it going. She went off with 2 people at 8 minute pace and I went with the 1 other guy who wanted to go @ 11 minute pace.

Boy that felt slow but good. I was pushing him harder than he was used to and he was huffing and puffing but hanging in there. After 2.4 miles he turned around.  I continued on to Grandma and Grandpa's place @ 3 miles and fueled with powerade. Then another 4 and back to gma and gpas place. Then 3 back to the HS.

Splits 9:40, 10:06, 9:17, 9:03, 9:25, 9:12, 9:16, 9:11, 9:10, 9:29

Now to get ready for smoking up some St. Louis style ribs! Homemade baked beans and coleslaw....should be a gorgeous day!!!

Saturday's 10 caused some soreness in the calves but nothing too major. Everything else seems good. 6 easy today around the ridge with as few hills as possible. Perfect weather again at 49 degrees and no wind!

Splits 8:59, 9:20, 8:50, 9:09, 9:05, 9:00   with the avg being 9:03

Softball tonight late - 8:30 - 11:00

Next run Wednesday 7 with  parkway hill.