Phantom

I'll give myself a mile for the day. went to the track with the kids. Also ran around helping my 5 year old learn how to ride a bike. he did it.

feeling a slight head cold coming on and haven't felt like doing much today.

11.5 easy running. .5 of it was running along side my 5 year old making sure he didn't crash on his bike.  GO UTES.

10 miles

 went out with the dog and ran for 92:00minutes total.  mostly on paved trails. i was a little surprised that they have been clearing them of snow. this is good to know. picked up the pace a few time for a few hundred yards.  i am just guessing but i think we covered about 10 miles.

3 mile warm up on the streets.  Then  2 x 2mile on the track. goal pace was 6:00 miles

set 1--mile 1 5:57  mile 2 6:00  total time 11:57

set 2--mile 1 6:02  mile 2 5:54  total time  11:56   started to get a little behind pace but just increased and effort and pain and finished strong.  pretty good workout for this time of year and considering my training since SGM.  i was pleasantly surprised. weather was great today.

total workout 9 miles.

8 easy miles, no watch, just ran.

8 easy miles with the dog.  She seemed tired, felt like i was dragging here along the last 4 miles.

I felt pretty good today.  i would like to get a good solid workout in tomorrow if i feel up to it.

played a pretty intense ward basketball game today and then opted to skip out on a run. 

13.09 miles out and back.  had a really good run this morning. Temps were mid 20's at start and low 30's at finish.  i just wanted to get a quality run in that was half marathon distance.  the effort was on the hard side of easy but still felt really comfortable.

total time was 1:30:16  9 sub 7:00 miles, fastest 6:26(last mile) slowest 7:18.   

4 easy mile with the dog. still a little soreness in left hammy from b-ball on saturday.  i will keep it easy this week other than a few tempo miles later in the week to get the legs moving for the painters half.

5.5 in the afternoon

5.5 easy miles, same coal creek trail as yesterday.  trail keeps me away from traffic better than my old route. 7:35ave pace.

my watch died at 11miles, here are my splits:  took a half of GU at about 5-6 miles, one before race.

mile 1 6:22

mile 2 6:23

mile 3 6:12

mile 4 6:12

mile 5 6:11

mile 6 6:21

mile 7 6:22

mile 8 6:27

mile 9 6:24

mile 10 6:21

mile 11 6:30  watch died at 11.07miles and 1:10:16

 last 2+ miles at 13:00 minutes.  many seemed to think that the course was long but my watch let me down.  This was a good race for me. I had 4 goals in mind heading into the race.

goal 1 match or better last years time of 1:22:42

goal 2 run my splits at the same pace

goal 3 focus on breathing  to avoid side aches which seem to plague me in longer races

goal 4 good leg turnover esp. on the up hill sections

considering  that last years course was short, my time this year is probably at least equal and i feel good about the race.  i have to admit that i surprised myself a little bit. my training in oct,nov,dec was very low key(so few miles that i didn't even keep track). 3 weeks ago i ramped up the running to hit the mid 30's to prep for the race.  sometimes less is more because i ran alot more miles leading up to the same race last year.  it was a fun race and i don't mind an honest course as apposed to the downhill races that we usually find in southern utah.

5.5 easy miles in the afternoon. took the dog but lately she is lagging behind. she is getting a little fat.

Legs felt really good today.  probably as good as they felt most of last week. no soreness after the race just a little tightness in the calfs

8.5 in the afternoon. Up the coal creek parkway trail.

8.5 in the afternoon. Coal Creek parkway. Nice easy run

9.25  easy run. same as yesterday except extended to southwest wildlife foundation area.

8 easy miles.  felt a little less energetic today but i stopped to talk to a friend during the run so that helped.  would like to hit 50 this week so we will see what tomorrow brings.

8 easy miles. played a church basketball game, then changed my shoes and went out for a easy 8

played basketball and then went for a 3 mile jog in the sub freezing weather.

we got alot of snow on monday, didn't get out on a run on monday or tuesday.

9.25 easy mile(1:17:00)

basketball this morning. 9.25 afternoon run in 68:30.  felt pretty good considering the b-ball earlier.

11 very easy miles after playing a church basketball game earlier in the morning.  took the dog out for the first 5.5 on a route i have ran only once before. It has a really good hill on it that i would like to use for some hill workouts down the road. after dropping the dog off at home i went out for another 5.5 on my usual route minus the extension up the canyon trail.

 considering the basketball i have played this week and not running monday or tuesday, i feel pretty good about this week.  body seems to be holding up well enough.

10.5 miles mid-day.  just ran really easy, ended up with a 7:25 ave(78:00).  wore my most wore out pair of shoes but the didn't  feel too bad.

8 very slow miles.  most of them with the dog

9.25 easy miles before lunch. legs felt better than yesterday. total time 69:00

5 miles with the dog before lunch.

ate a light breakfast then went out for a run. wanted to get a good one in before the bad weather hits town. ended up doing 11.5 in 88:10 just nice easy run.

played a pretty intense church basketball game and then went out and ran 5.5 mile. felt pretty tired.

weather was snowy and blowy yesterday so i didn't run. it worked out well because my foot has been a little sore since playing b-ball on saturday.

 Today took the dog out for a run in the fresh snow. pace was slow other than a few faster sections.  the dog loves it and we covered 11.5 miles in about 1:34.

11.5  Just a nice easy run around lunch time. Total time(1:26:30)

an easy 6 after breakfast with the dog. legs felt flat, i might try to get out and do a few more miles later today.

14.5 miles late in the morning.  did 10.5 with 1 mile at 5:47 just to mix it up. stopped home to pickup the dog and went out for 4 more miles. overall running time was1:52:17

8.5 easy to end the week. forgot my gloves and ear protection so it was getting pretty cold as the sun went down.

10.5 easy miles. windy and cold, about 8:00 pace.

ll.5 in the late morning. In middle of run i picked up the pace for 1.5miles (8:25) just to get the legs going. Was a decent run(1:29:ish) 

 most days i don't feel like running but i do anyways. yesterday was one of those days where i really didn't feel like running and so i didn't. 

5.5  miles. Got up early (7:00am) and went for a short run before going to some continuing education classes all day.

6 easy miles in the morning with the dog.

9.5 miles before supper. warmed up and the hit the track for a workout

1-- 3 miles on track in 17:56

 2-- 2 miles on track in 11:56

3--  1 mile on track in  5:48

jogged 2 laps between each. cool daown.

when i started i was thinking that i really didn't want to do this but then i just told myself it is just a little pain for a few minutes so just do it.  I' m glad that i did. Ended up being a pretty good workout.

10.7 in the late afternoon. bench road from enterprise (1:21:00)

also played a pretty intense church basketball game in the morning.

11.5 miles in the afternoon after the rain stopped(1:28:00) just a nice easy run.

5.5 miles with the dog. not really into it today. probably call it quits for today.

11.5 miles after breakfast. it was very windy so i didn't enjoy it much. just kept going to get the miles in. Total time(1:30:00)

11.5 miles in (1:22:30)

did my normall run, legs were feeling fresh so i decided to do some tempo mixed in.

2 mile  tempo up the canyon trail 6:15,6:30= total time 12:45 (up hill section)

2.5 mile down canyon trail 5:42,5:45,2:49= total time 14:16 (down section)

the 2 miles up felt like a lot harder effort than the 2.5 coming back down. good workout

6 easy miles with the dog. legs were pretty "flat" today.

11.5 miles in the early afternoon. (1:28:00)

Most miles ever in a week for me.

11.5 after breakfast, great weather.felt  good today but ran easy.(1:25:00)

5.5 miles in the morning before breakfast

5.5 miles before dinner. took the dog and we were both dragging. i just turned off the watch and suffered through it.

10.5 miles in the wind but i survived.

11.5 miles before lunch.  a little tired feeling but just suffered through it. not as windy today.

played in a stake basketball tourney game this morning

ran 5.5 easy miles later in the day.  too busy yesterday so missed a run. thats ok i was feeling a little run down and today i feel a little like i could be getting sick. still not a bad week of training for me,  i think i hit the 50's again.

11.5 easy miles after breakfast. woke up thinking this would be a really nice day, then i heard the news say it would be really windy.  Sure enough the wind picked up. pace was pretty slow fighting the wind but miles and time on the feet are main focus right now so i accomplished that.

It is supposed to snow tonight so i may try to go out again and get another run in before the storm hits.

6.0  more miles in the late afternoon wind.

11.5 miles mid afternoon after last nights new snow had melted some. threw 2 tempo miles in teh middle( 5:50 and 5:30, 11:20 total time)  felt surprisingly good considering yesterdays mileage.

8.0 miles before lunch. ran my old 8 mile loop that i haven't been on for quite some time.felt a little sluggish just took it real easy.

8.5 in the morning. actually got out the door before 9:00am.  temps were 29-32 degrees but it didn't feel bad at all.

5 miles in the morning with the dog. didn't have time for more.  hopefully i can get a few more later in the day.  my mileage this week is such that i have to be careful to not run too much today or tomorrow. i don't want my mileage to go much above 60 just yet.

Spectrum 10k. went into it hoping to run faster than last years 35:24.  i have ran more mile in training but figured my speed would not be much improved.  overall it was a good race for me.

this years time 35:09        last years splits -----------------------

mile 1  5:07                                                                        5:07

mile 2  5:47                                                                         5:46

mile 3  5:39                                                                         5:31

mile 4  5:54                                                                         5:57

mile 5  5:55                                                                         5:58

mile 6  5:44                                                                         5:54

.2        1:00                                                                          1:08

 so i ran a little faster than last year, mainly because i finished a little stronger. in hind sight i should have stayed or tried to stay with Dustin Ence when he pushed to the front around mile 3. Nate bundy and i were gaining on Dustin but just ran out of race.  i can't really complain though everbody around me ran a great race. i am excited to see what this year will bring.  i ain't getting any younger but i am going to slowly increase mileage, try to stay injury free and see where that lands me come fall.  mileage wise i am in new territory for me and hopefully i can build a better base.

7.5 easy miles before breakfast, no watch but guessing about 8:00 pace

 9.25 before supper. weather was beautiful, i felt pretty good and just ran what felt easy and did it in 67:00 minutes.  kind of surprised myself. legs are just a little sore from saturdays race but overall i think my body is adjusting well to my increases in mileage. i just need to be careful and be patiant.

9.25 very easy miles in the afternoon.  legs were pretty tired so it was slow going.  just glad to get out even though i didn't feel like it.

10.5 in the early afternoon. went on one of my usual routes and then took a detour jogging and climbing up a side canyon.

7 easy miles this morning with the dog. took all 7 miles just to get warmed up.

5.5 in the late afternoon. felt like doing more but i am going to end up with too many miles this week if i am not careful.

5.5 in the morning. nice little run. i felt like doing more but by the time i get a good run in tomorrow i will be well above any previous weeks mileage.

10.5 in the morning in 1:12:30. i felt good better than i expected i would after this week. raced a 10k last weekend and then hit 65 miles this week and cranked out a pretty good run today.  my first 2 miles were really slow getting warmed up.  ended up deciding to throw in a couple tempo miles hit the first one at 6:02 and thought "that was too easy" so i ran the last one in 5:44 and it felt real good.  plan is to keep mileage in the 60's for a few weeks. main thing is to stay injury free. i would rather be running less miles but at least be running than to be injured because i got over zealous with mileage.

9.25 in the late afternoon.  it snowed last night just a little and i have felt like i am coming down with a cold or something so i waited till it warmed up a little.  felt alright for the first few miles but then really struggled. i could tell that something just wasn't right with my body.  hopefully i can get over whatever it is quickly.  i can't complain much though it has been a long time since i have even got much of cold.

5.5 in the afternoon. wanted to do more but still not feeling all that great.

5.5 at about 10:00pm with the dog. 

10 miles late afternoon. threw in a 2 mile tempo on the canyon trail. 5:37, 5:39 = 11:16

i was pleasantly surprised that my In & Out burgers from 3 hours earlier caused very little problem.

10.5 before supper. it was cold and windy from our snow storm today.  left watch at home and just went out to get the miles in. run wasn't all that bad.

4 miles before supper.  not a very good run, didn't feel well. might try to go back out later in the evening.

6 miles in the morning after my church basketball game.

9.25 miles in the evening. hated to head back out but needed to finish the week with a decent run. I ended up feeling pretty good.  had hoped for a few more miles this week but most of the week i felt like i was starting to get sick. overall i am pleased with it.

7.5 miles. don't know what is wrong but felt like crap and ran reeeaaaallly slow.  probably doesn't help that is has been windy and cold.  

11.5 before breakfast. (1:28:ish)  felt ok but it was sure hard to get myself out the door and get going. beautiful morning though. No wind.

8.75 before breakfast.  legs are in a coma or something. first 5.5 miles in about 47:00. decided to go to the track and get my legs moving alittle. did 1600m @6:00 then 2x800m @2:42, 2:40. 

5.5 miles before supper. took the dog with me. felt pretty good except for some lingering lower obdominal pain probably a strain from basketball on saturday.

10.5 miles in the afternoon.  it started to get a little windy so i figured it was time to go for a run. total time (1:15:15)

I ended up throwing in a 2 mile tempo in 11:11(5:46, 5:25) slightly wind aided but i'll take what i can get.

10.5 in the morning before storm hit. timed it just right. left all timing devices at home, just ran and had a decent run.

6 miles with the dog in the morning before breakfast

 10.5 more miles before lunch and the afternoon session of general conference. over all a good week of training for me. hit 70+ miles this week. i have never been there before.  body overall feels pretty good. i hope to keep my mileage up around 70 for a while but i will just listen to the body and if i need to rest a little i will.

10.25 in the morning, earlier than usual. didn't take a watch but i know i was running pretty slow. no need to rush into the week.

5.5 miles in the morning

9.5 miles in the evening after supper.  warmed up for a few miles then did a 5k on the track. i had a watch but the light doesn't work and it was too dark to read it.  So i just started it and ran what i thought was no slower than 6:00 pace.  it was different not being able to check splits.  whenever i thought i was slowing i would have to focus more.  i finished strong and stopped the watch and ran over too some light to see what the watch said.  i was pleasantly surprised to see 17:58

i guess that the dissadvantage of knowing my splits is that if i am running too fast then i can just slow up a little.  not being able to see splits i just kept pushing.  im sure i didn't miss count my laps so i am happy. i usually run in the mid 17's on out and back 5Kraces. to run under 18:00 by myself on the track in the dark is pretty good.

4 miles late in the evening.  worked all day and didn't do a good job of fueling during the day.  ran too soon after supper and had stomach issues.

9.25 miles in the afternoon. woke up and didn't feel like running.  didn't feel like it at lunch.  finally forced myself out the door.  it was a pretty sad run. i just didn't have any energy.  barely 9 minute pace at best.  felt like the last 9 of a bad marathon.  it can only get better from here, right?

16.5 mid morning.  Took the dog out for 6, then dropped her off at home, got a gu and headed back out. did 10.5 more. for a total of 16.5.

After the first 12 or so miles i dedided to throw in a 2 mile temp on a favorite section of the run. 2 miles in(11:13) 5:45, 5:28.

10.5 miles in the morning. i was feeling good considering this week. good thing i left the watch at home or i might have been temped to run some more tempo miles.

11.5 miles in the morning. very nice weather and a very solid run to start out the week.  just took it easy and felt strong. total time (1:27:30)

5.5 this morning but had to cut it short to get to work before the rain came, got my work done just before it started raining at 3:00.  will try to hit the road again tonight, weather permitting.

never really quit raining so didn't get back out.

10.5 in the morning. it snowed overnight and left ice on the streets and sidewalks. it was also windy and cold. i just took it really easy. (1:27:15)

11.5 in the morning. great weather. i was feeling pretty good today.  Total time(1:20:35).  Hit 2.5 miles in 15:21 without much effort(during second half of run)

8.0 easy miles with the dog in between snow flurries.  Here in Cedar, mother nature can't decide whether it is spring or winter, but i think warmer weather is around the corner.

10.5 easy miles in the morning. legs were a little flat but all things considered not a bad little run. left the watch at home.

5.5 miles in the morning. took about 5 miles just to get warmed up. more miles later today.

1.0 mile, saw Ben Jarvis running at canyon view track so i ran a mile with him so i could talk.

9.75 miles in late afternoon. There was an ROTC 5K this morning, but i couldn't run because of some family commitments. I decided to go to the track and run a 5K. Ever since i ran that 17:58 5K in the dark a week or so ago i have wondered if maybe i miss counted laps. 

Todays 5K was 17:43 on the track   splits were (5:47), 11:31(5:44), 17:03(5:32), :40 last200M I felt really good and now i know i was correct on my last track 5K.  the winner of the race this morning was 18:09 so i would have had a lot of fun. Had my saucony racing flats on and they were nice to run in.

Another good week of training, I beleive that i hit another all time high for mileage this week. I just have to keep reminding myself to be careful and stay healthy. High mileage won't mean much at all if i am injured.

10.5 mile run this morning. absolutely great weather and i was surprised at how good i felt considering last week.  (1:15:00).  Hopefully i can get a few more later today to give me a great start to the week.  mileage wise i figure to be about the same as last week.

didn't make it back out later in the day, bummer.

11.5 in the morning.  as part of the run i 2x1.55 mile.  It is the out and back of a couple of upcoming 5k races on the coal creek trail.  i ran the out(uphill) portion in 9:38 and the back partion in 8:03. I think i ran the race last year in 17:34.

7.5 miles before supper. felt pretty good all things considered. by the end of the run there wasn't much left in the legs.

I read an interesting article about running shoes verses bare foot running.  It was on line at lewrockwell.com     Wednesday April 22 archive.  Check it out.

7 miles before supper. included about a mile barefoot on the grass.

6  miles before supper. it was very windy and my body esp. my legs just feel hammered.  those back to back doubles earlier this week must have done it to me.

4 miles late at night.  not a great start to the week but i have felt a bit burned out lately and the wind, well i am sick of it.  

11.25 miles this morning.  And of course the it was like running in a wind tunnel.  ran .75 on the grass without shoes on. not a bad run but still not feeling very energetic.

13.5 in the morning before heading out of town.  did two miles of temp in 10:45(5:26,5:19) on the canyon trail.  legs felt reall y good.

7.5 in the morning up in SLC.  ran up 2nd avenue near temple square. it was raining some but not enough to get very wet.

Mileage slipped pretty bad this week, but that is ok.  it is usually an inevitable part of my training cycles.  I was pretty busy working all week too.  I just wish i could have ran the hurricane half or some other race.  i am rested and ready for some good training.

11.5 in the morning. It was a decent run for a monday.  ran easy and still took three miles down in the low 6 minute range.  Total time for run.(1:23:15)

4 miles before bed. supper was still in the stomach so it was a slow one.

10.5 in the morning. was out the door before 6:00am. which is unusual for me so far this year.  felt like i was sleeping on the run.  just a slow easy run.  worked pretty hard and long today tearing off a roof and getting ready to re-shingle it so i probably won't get out again today.

7.5 miles at 6 am.  pretty slow, never really got going.

1 mile running back and forth to pick up a truck on a job sight.

6.0 easy miles this morning. cut the run short to get home for breakfast with the family. i have been so busy this week i haven't been around as much as i like.  Will try to get more this evening.

10.0 miles at 10:30 at night. didn't take a watch but i looked at the clock before and after.  The run took 70:00 minutes.  i felt really good all things considered.  ran strong the whole time.  i would say it was a marathon pace run although i am hoping i can run faster down the road.

not a bad week of running but i need to get back into some higher mileage and running every day.

10.75 this morning, 9.25 out and back, then went to the track.  plan was to run a mile with the goal of 5:00 minute pace for as long as possible.  i knew it would be difficult. i was on pace at 800m but ready to quit.  Kept going and ended up with a 5:13.  It is amazing how different a 5 minute pace feels than even a 5:30 or 5:45.  my lungs and arms were burning.  My legs were not very fresh going into it so maybe i will do a shorter warmup next time.  

11.5 this morning.  Legs were in a coma.  just glad to get out and run.

7.0--slept in til 7:30am.  Just couldn't pry myself off the mattress.  I was frustrated knowing that i was just going out running when i should have been done already.  Once i got running i just couldn't face another 10+ miles at a pathetically slow pace so i turned for home after the first mile.  Decided to hit the track for a healthy dose of tempo running.  started out planning on 5k on the track. hit 5K in 18:10 and then just kept going till i hit 4 miles in 23:17. first 2 miles were each 5:50  then i kind of lost track but i think there were pretty close to the same.  i am glad i did the tempo instead of a long slow one.  sometimes it is good to get out and run faster even when you don't feel like it,  It seems to refocus me and build confidence better than 8-9:00 pace does.

7.5 miles after work

5.5 before supper.  needed to get out more but got busy. not a bad week considering that it felt like i took the week off.  I just wish that my body would start feeling more rested.

12.5 in the morning.  Went out on one of my standard out and backs for 10.5, then hit the track for a quick 1600m(5:16).  Another mile to cool down.  A good start to the week.

7.0 miles this morning.  1.5 warm up then 8x800m @ goal pace 2:40 and 2:20 rest(300m)

times were: 2:40,2:39,2:41,2:40,2:39,2:40,2:40,2:39    took an extra minute rest between the 4th and 5th one. Overall it was a very solid work out.  haven't done this workout for quite a while.

Nice easy 10.5 miles this morning.  took a while to get the body going. ran pretty slow(8:00pace)

12.5 in the evening.  Put on the garmin and headed out on a previously uncharted run.  Went out west towards sunset canyon ran around on the hills on some jeep trails.  had some good little hill climbs and i really enjoyed running on dirt roads and trails.  I think i will do this on a regular basis, especially after a rain storm when it isn't so dusty.

8.0 in the evening.  Had some serious heart burn issues after about 6 miles so i had to cut the run shorter than i had planned.  Went to Provo and back today for a funeral.  I'm guessing that all the snacking to stay awake while driving came back to bite me.

plan to get some good running in tomorrow.

5.0 right before supper. felt good but had to cut it short so as to not miss supper.  started to rain again as i was finishing up.  If the rain stops i would like to get back out for another 10 miles or so.

Never made it back out it got late and the rain didn't stop.

10.0-- Finally made it out for a run at 9:30pm.  I ran my "dark" route down mainstreet and up into fiddlers canyon.  It was a nice run.  body felt good and rested. Took me 1:09:22.  Effort was for the most part easy except i pushed it up fiddlers canyon road and then back down Nichols canyon road.  I like this route, it gives me a good mile of sustained climbing followed by about a mile of down hill. it is good practice.

 Saw Greg Harris out running early this morning.

8.5 before supper. Towards end of run the run started to have some heart burn issues again. not sure what it is but it didn't bother me last night at all.  might have to quit eating doritos or something like that.

3 this morning with the dog.  Legs feel pretty thrashed but they really shouldn't.  today was supposed to be a tempo/speed day but it may not happen.

8.5 total. Went to the track for a 10X800m workout.  I almost talked myself out of doing it.  Yesterday my left hammy was a little sore and i couldn't figure out why because i only ran 3 easy miles yesterday and the hammy hurt later in the day.  I had to give myself a pep talk and then after a 1.5 mile warmup i started the 800's goal was 2:40 and to start an 800m every 5 minutes.  

well the work out went great and no problems with the hammy.  times were as follows:

 2:40, 2:37, 2:38, 2:39, 2:39, 2:39, 2:41, 2:40, 2:40, 2:36

 The first lap of the final 800m felt really herky jerky but i was get my form back and ran a pretty strong.  overall this is probably the one of the best 800m workouts ever for me.

5.5 miles with the dog.

18.1 down in Las Vegas.  Ran on a walking path from henderson area out to the lake las vegas area.  ran 1 mile towards the end in 5:35.  Overall i just kept the pace nice and slow. 8:40 ave pace.

Got back into town late last night so i slept in a little bit. Luckily it was cool and overcast.  I did some Ridge road hill laps.  Intense 1/3 mile uphills followed by downhill practice running.  It is one workout i never look forward to but i need to do it on a regular basis.

 went home got a drink ditched the watch and took the dog out for another 7.5 easy miles. A good start to the week.

1.0 mile of bare foot jogging with the family at the track.  felt good on the grass but when i did a lap or so on the track i could tell my feet were not liking it.

9.25 miles. they were slow but the weren't easy.  felt sluggish and tired. Sat. and Mon. workouts were bigger than normal and legs are tired.  Hopefully legs will feel better for tomorrows planned track workout.

10x800m at the SUU track.  Nice workout this morning.  Thanks to Stewmyster(new blog member) I had someone to run with.  Work out went pretty much the same as last weeks except it seemed a little easier running with someone.  The majority of the repeats were between 2:39-2:41.  2-3 of then were faster including the last one which was 2:34ish.

I feel like this workout very beneficial.  Some day i would like to work up to doing 20x800 in prep for a marathon.

slept in a little this morning. got to bed late last night.

Ran a slow but not necessarily easy 7.75 after work in the heat and wind.  body felt tired as i expected it would.  after about 7.25 miles and 2 potty stops i started to feel a little life come back into my body.

I am being reminded of how hard it is to feel like running when i am working long days building houses.

1.0 mile this morning.  legs are feeling hammered so did just enough to get a little blood pumping in my legs.  Worked allday and legs still felt hammered after work.

mile warmup then jumped right into the race.  Pretty much ran  alone after 100 yards.  It would have been really lonely if it wasn't an out and back.  Splits were as follows:

1.  5:40 felt easy

2.  5:43

3.  5:44 still rolling

4.  5:53

5.  5:54

6.  5:42

.2  1:06

Didn't stop my watch but distance seemed to be accurate, at least not short.  My garmin usually beeped just ahead of mile marks at the first few miles.  I am happy with my race.  No one was really pushing me, and considering the course i can't really complain about my time.

9.25 miles in the morning.  started into little tempo section of the run but shut it down after about .25 mile.  Legs are not sore but something just didn't feel right(body was telling me it didn't need any fast running today) I did plenty of it last week.  

Goals for this week are to rest up a little and stay sharp for the summer games.

2.5 in the morning

8.0 in the evening.  had a long day at work today and feeling pretty tired.

Nothing today.  lower back is acting up a little bit, probably from yesterdays long day of conrete.

nothing today other than my usual work.

Summer games 10k. 2nd place overall 33:12.  Started out running with Garrett Stewart(Stewmyster on the blog).  I fell back a little during the 3rd mile.  Thought i could try and catch him but he was able to continue to push it and held strong to the finish.  Pretty good race for me.  only 13 seconds off my PR.

Summer Games 5K 15:38.5, first place overall and a huge PR for me.  Kind of surprised myself. Once the race got going i settled into 3rd behind Garrett and a cedar high kid(forgot his name). I focused on staying close to them so i would have a chance at the end. Caught them and and took the lead with about a half mile to go.  I was feeling pretty strong and finished well.  I am pleased with my times although i would have liked to run faster yesterday.  Running fast today makes me wonder what happened yesterday.

Splits were as follows according to Garmin.

mile 1  5:02            mile 2  5:15        mile 3  4:59       .1     :21

Once again it seemed that my watch was regestering just a little late on the mile markers and 3.08 for the race total.

Wore my saucony racers.  probably only raced in them 3 times.  The felt great, but I am just really cautious because they are light weight and light on the padding.

5.5 miles before work.  left watch at home. Just took it easy, calf muscles still a little tight.

8.0 more easy miles at about 10:00pm.  kept up with the 8:00 guy.  Actually felt pretty good at times during the run.

2 new pair of shoes, both Brooks(defyance and summons) felt pretty good. very comfortable.

8.25 up the canyon trail.  Was not a very good run.  Legs felt like they were pretty much in a coma. 8:00min Pace.

Summer games 5000m 17:42

Summer games 800m 2:15

 did 2 miles early this morning and some jogging between and after races.

Another fun day of summer games track.  It was quite windy today.  Ran the steeplechase 3000m  in the morning.  I have never ran one of these so it was interesting.  In the middle of the race I ran right past the water barrier once i realized i had missed it i had to turn around run back and jump over it.  It wasn't that big of a deal because i was already comfortably out in the lead.  My kids enjoyed watching me run, hurdle and get wet. Time was 11:30

Went back in the afternoon and ran the 1500m. Again it was really windy.  I just wanted to run  under 5 minutes. Ended up with a 4:49.??. 

I figure that doing the track meet was a good way of getting some speed stuff in this week and i ended up getting 4 gold medals.

5.5 easy this morning. Actually beat the 8:00 minute guy.  It was nice to just go out and run. I have been doing a lot of racing(3 weekends in a row). Hopefully i can get back out later today and get my weekly mileage back up over 50 and get some quality stuff going.

5.5 miles before bed, took the dog for some company.

5.5 with the dog at 10:30 pm. 

7.5 miles late at night.  I felt pretty good.  

5.5 with the dog in the late evening.

15.25-- nice longer run with Kyle Hinton.  enjoyed having someone to share the miles with.  Just glad to get a longer run in the bank.

11.5 in 1:18:30 in 95+degrees heat. I was surprised at how good i felt today.  I didn't try to push the pace much but i was running much faster than usual and it felt pretty good.6:50 ave pace

6.5 easy miles in the heat after work.

A really good workout this morning with Garrett Stewart.  Met at SUU track and did 4x1600m with 800m jog between. 

times were: 5:31, 5:28, 5:25, 5:13

It seems so much easier to do these workouts when i don't have to do them alone.  Garrett and I seem to be able to push each other and our fitness levels are very similar. 

 finished off with some cool down miles.

7.5 in Blanding, Utah.

4th July 5K.  Legs hammies esp. were tight.  forgot to reset and start my watch so did that after the gun while i was running. Only got accurate splits on my second and third miles.  second mile was 5:59 (about 15 seconds slower than last year).  I had a highschool kid right on my shoulder so i kept testing him the first few miles then once we hit 2 miles i just dropped the hammer and ran a 5:07 and won running away.  ended bettering my my last years time by about 8 seconds.  The race starts and stops at the same place so it is a very fair course

Ran 10 more in the afternoon heat at 7:30 pace.  lots of up and down hills.

4.5 in the morning.

11.0 at 10:00pm.  Felt pretty good and just kept running.  Hit a few good miles down in the low 6's. A good start to the week.

5.5 with the dog in the evening. weather was quite nice.  didn't take a watch just ran slow and easy.  Track workout tomorrow.

5.25 run in the dark of night.  tired legs.

16.0  Met up with Garrett.  We ran up cedar canyon from the mainstreet park, then we did a nice 10K tempo back down to the park.

splits were: 6:14, 5:51, 5:52, 5:47, 5:41, 5:41, & 1:09 for .21

Total time for the 10K tempo was 36:15

This was a nice workout and i was glad to have someone to run with.  Some good down hill stuff to get ready for bryce.

5.5 easy miles.  felt like doing more but time was running short.  Legs felt pretty good for a monday morning. Now for some 8:00-5:00pm cross training. Running doesn't pay enough so i still have to go to work.

4 more miles late at night

goose egg for today, I did get up at 5am and pretty much worked none stop until after 10pm.  my only real break was 2 hrs of driving.  hope to do a little running tomorrow but it won't be in the morning because i have an early concrete pour.

4.0 total,  1 mile warm up then 2miles in 11:31(5:53, 5:38) 1 mile cool down.  Honestly I really didn't feel that great.  I am working too much and sleeping too little.  Didn't really mean for this week to be a taper mileage wise but it is starting to look that way.

.5 mile.  went out after dinner but stomach was still too full so just went back home.

5.5 in the morning before heading over to Bryce.  good little run to get the legs moving a try to work out the kinks.  I have a lot of family coming to bryce both to run and to watch.

Always a fun race but this year it was really nice to have 2 brothers, a sister, and a brother in law running it. We camped in tropic, didn't sleep well but sleep the night before a race never seems to matter much to me.  I am very pleased with my race.  I set a new personal best by about  1:42.  My goal going in was to nail the last 4-5 miles that i have always struggled with.  I have been trying to work on my speed as well as better endurance it seemed to pay off.  The one major glitch in the race was that after about 3 miles i felt like i was going to need a #2 potty stop.  I opted to take none of my gu and just enough water to wet my mouth. Dumped the rest on my head.  I was able to avoid a potty stop but it was a little scary at times.  I don't think that this had much of a negative impact on my overall time.  

 mile1 5:56

mile2 6:01

mile3 5:24

mile4 5:28

mile 5 5:43

 mile 6 5:36

mile 7 5:46

mile 8 5:51

mile 9 5:55

mile 10 5:51

 mile 11 5:55

mile 12 6:01

mile 13 5:40

.1 in :33

As you can see I ran a consistant race for the most part.  The winner was in my age group so that was cool. I was glad to see so many others have great races.  Already looking forward to next years race.

10.5 after work. This was my first chance to get out and run since bryce. I wanted to get out yesterday but i was really busy.  felt pretty good today although the last few miles i could tell that my legs are still tired, no soreness though.  total time was 80 minutes.

10- met up with Garrett at the track.  We decided to just go out on a run. we went out through sunset canyon, down mainstreet, and back to the track.  A nice relaxed run and time passed quickly.

3.0 in the evening at the track with my boys

4.0 really sluggish miles this morning

10K race in Enterprise.  I felt like I was recovered well from last weeks half, But the last 1.5 miles i could really feel my legs(esp calves) tighten and knot up.  Overall it was a good race for me and despite the legs i was able to finish stronger than in years past. Course was short like it always is and they had the official times way messed up.  I was the overall winner and my watch said 33:04 but they had my time at 32:41 so that is more than just a slight error.  I try not to complain much because the race is very inexpensive($12), I can time myself, and we all have to run the race whether it is short or long.  It is just hard to compare times to other accurate courses.  This was a huge PR on this course for me. 2 yrs ago i ran 33:41.

splits were

mile 1 5:12

mile 2 5:16

mile 3 5:20

 mile 4 5:26

mile 5 5:34

mile 6 5:50

406 ft in :23

5.5 easy miles this morning. felt better than i thought i would but my calves are really tight.  It is interesting that my quads feel fine.  would like to get out for another run today if i can.  I love racing but it does make it hard to jump right back into the usual running routine.

8.0 more easy miles before bed.  strolled down mainstreet and it was pretty empty at 10:30pm.

5.5 this morning,  calf muscles still trashed.  ran pretty slow.  Lower back has been tight all weekend.  I don't think it is from the race i think i strained after the race lifting some concrete stuff at my grandpa's.

6.0 at 10:00 pm.  a little better run but it may be a few more days before the legs start coming around. Back is feeling pretty much back to normal.

5.5 PM went out thinking of doing 8-10 but i barely made it with 5.5.  I was running slower than 9:00min pace. No energy.  Still in recovery. No sweat, i can't expect to bounce right back after all the racing miles i put on my body the last two weekends.

5.5 this morning.  legs feeling a little better but nothing to get excited about.

8.0 miles this evening before bed. It was slow and ugly but at least i ran.

2.25 at the track late at night. drove to SLC today for the Oquirrh temple open house.  after all the driving i figured i better get out and at least stretch the legs.  Long run planned for tomorrow.6:30am at kyle hintons.

20 miles this morning with kyle and nick.  Just ran nice and easy and then i picked it up on miles 15-19 going 6:20,6:09,6:13,5:59 then slowed back down for the last mile.  Overall it was a good run considering how i have felt this week. Total time 2:40:00

11.5 this morning.  pretty good run for a monday.  up the canyon trail. no watch but took me about 128 minutes according to clock at home.

5.5 slow miles.  Yesterday about lunch time i started feeling sick to my stomach.  decided to rest and didn't eat anything and that seemed to help.  decided that if running didn't kill me this morning it would make me stronger.  didn't have much energy but that is to be expected.

11.0 miles this morning.  Met up with Garrett and ran up to the start of the USG 5k and ran a 4  mile tempo back down.  I asked Garrett what pace he wanted to hit, he said between 5:40-50.  Well I was feeling pretty good and we missed our goal pace.  We ran 5:25,5:15,5:11,5:25.  The first mile felt really good and we just kept going.  I am very pleased.  I really didn't know what to expect because i have felt kind of sick the last couple days and ate very little for the last few days

5.5 miles at 10:00pm.  actually a decent run, took it easy but felt good.

Camping out at upper lehman campground.  got up early and hiked to the top of wheeler peek. hike started at 10,000feet and ended at just over 13,000.  Round trip the hike was about 8 miles.  Then i changed into my running gear and ran down the mountain to our campground(2500ft of decent in 10 miles).  Two years ago i ran up this same road and then back down but it gave me a near injury as i tried to tempo down the hill.  This year i just tried to hold back and it was still pretty bad.  Not a bad day of hiking and running at altitude.

Opted to not run this morning.  Camping up here in the mountains means that when you go for a run it will be either uphill or down when you start and the opposite coming back to camp.  My quads were feeling it from fridays adventures.  Opted to get a good run in once back home in the evening.

PM  Strapped on the camel back and headed out at 7:00pm.  Plan was to run a few miles around town and then up the canyon to the 10K start then get some good miles coming down.  I figured this would give me at least 16 miles and the option of doing more.  Legs were pretty sore from the start but i pushed it to the top of the canyon and hit the first 10 miles in 76 min and put some serious wear on the legs with this uphill stuff. I think my effort was harder going up the canyon coming down but on the way down i hit 6:19,6:03,6:03,6:25 legs(quads)were really hurting and i just shut things down and headed home.  Even running the rest of the way home my quads kept hurting.  I guess i did some serious damage these last few days. 

 Funny how my quads never bothered me after Summer Games, Bryce, or Enterprise.  I guess i finally ran enough steep hills to hammer them.  I figure this is a good thing since all of my upcoming races are hilly.  I think that i finally hit 60 miles in a week.  It has been quite a while since i have done this.  The plan is to keep training hard  and try to keep my mileage up for another month.

5.5 easy miles late at night.  legs still traumatized.

8.5 in the late afternoon.  wanted to go longer but after about 6 slow miles the legs just felt the trauma of last weekend.  hopefully they start feeling better asap.

AM-  Met up with Greg at CV track for a 6X1600m workout with 800m jog in between.  I was a little worried about being able to finish this workout hitting respectable times.

1 5:43

2 5:32(my fault, i set the pace on this one)a little faster than we wanted this early

3 5:34

4 5:25(greg was right on my tail pushing me)

5 5:29 starting to feel my legs are getting tired

6 5:28(It was my turn to lead off but greg wanted to hit 5:20 or better so i told him he better lead out cause i didn't have one of those in me.  I hit the first lap in 1:20 and the half in 2:45 and then just tried to push hard to the end.  Overall a great workout and it was definitely easier and more productive to run with Greg. Thanks Greg.

5.5 easy this morning.  slept in a bit then went out for a short run.  legs tired but i think they will come around.

A good race to have over.  Course was about what I expected but those hills were a beast.  James Holt and I ran together all the way out to the turnaround and on the way back we were never really that far away from each other.  At about mile twelve we were right together.  It was nice to have him around otherwise it would have been very lonely.  My legs didn't really feel very good right from the start(still not recovered from track workouts and last weekend).  I don't think James was very rested either.  

splits  613,629,645,612,638,625,629,714,715,709,642,739,638,650,637,.03

This was a good training run for me.  It is a race that i would do again but i probably wouldn't look forward to it like i do some of the other races.

AM I haven't been sore from the race saturaday and i felt pretty good on my run this morning.  Felt so good that i just kept going. Ended up doing 16 miles in 2:03:00.  stopped at the track at the end of the run and did a 5:46 mile then cooled down for a half mile.  only one water stop and no GU.  Felt like i could have just kept running for quite a while.  My get a short run in tonight.

PM 5 more easy miles before bed

AM- 6.5 easy miles.  Felt pretty tired but towards the end was feeling a little better. Will try to get another run in later today. So far a really good start to the week.

AM 3X3200m with Greg at the track. 11:54, 11:44, 11:28,  finished strong and felt like i could have did another one if i had to.

10.5 I have taken over the domestic duties, my wife is out of town.  Makes it harder to fit running in.  Decided to load the two youngest into the jogger and take then out before lunch.  Just took it easy.  pushing that extra weight around really exaggerates the up and down hills.  Just glad i was able to get out.  Legs actually feel pretty good right now.

PM- 3 more miles before bed.  other than a work related bruise on my shin, my body feels pretty good right now.

10.5 early evening run.  it was a little warm still and a couple of potty stops along the way made for a long run.  hopefully i will feel up to a long run in the morning.

AM-5.0  Long run just wasn't in the cards this morning.  My 2 year old woke up an climbed in to bed with me.  The five that i did get were ugly slow so a long run would not have been fun.  This has been a good week mileage wise and monday was basically a long run.  I might try something later tonight.

4 this morning.  stopped to stop to someone and had to cut my run pretty short.  

AM- 22.2(total running time 2:46:55) met up with Greg and ran around town. It was great to have someone to do a long run with. I felt pretty good, we kept the pace pretty easy. I only drank 16 oz of water and had 2 GU during the first 21 miles. decided to stop and get more water at Walmart because i was really starting to feel it. looking back i should have refilled my bottle because we ran past numerous drinking fountains. temps were cool and i just didn't think about, guess i was just enjoying the run a little to much. body handled the GU well and my bruised shin didn't bother me so that was good. cold bath and ice on the shin afterword.

4 easy miles before supper. It was hot, i wasn't really into it and i turned back early.  There is always tomorrow, right?

5.5 in the afternoon heat. got smoked by the 8:00 guy.  starting to get burned out, but i figure if i can just get 2 good workouts in each week for the next month then it really doesn't matter what else i do.

16.7  ran down the canyon with Greg and his dad.  4 miles easy warmup then jumped into a 10 mile tempo.  Greg was nice to me and we started out conservatively, i was with him at 5 miles and then he just kept cranking up the pace.  I was feeling pretty good through 8 miles and then i started getting a stomach cramp( i wonder if 6+ pieces of German chocolate cake last night had anything to do with it).  At the end of mile 9 i had to stop the watch and stop to get rid of the cramp, then started back into tempo for the last mile. I was running really well  and then the cramp came back at about 9.9 miles and and i had to slow way down.  It is of course frustrating but looking at my split times i can't feel too bad.  I covered the 10 miles in just under 60 minutes if you don't count my stopped time.

splits were: 619,613,554,551,547,539,550,558,620,551

5.5 easy miles after work.  It is pretty smoky out but at least it blocks a little bit of the suns heat.  Felt OK on this run, better than i expected to.  Maybe some kind of track workout tomorrow(especially if i get someone to join me)

AM 13.0--track workout 4-3-2-1 with a lap jog in between.

warmed up a little and jumped  into the 4 miles, it was dark so i had to swing wide at the end of each mile to get a split. i was running blind.

4mile  24:46(6:22,6:13,6:08,6:03)

3mile  18:00(5:59,6:02,5:59)

2mile  12:00(6:01,5:59)

1mile  5:36

This was a pretty good workout for me.  my legs were still a little sore from saturdays tempo(esp the calves) so i didn't know how if would fare today.  Even though this was supposed to be a marathon pace workout i feel like my marathon pace will be closer to 6:30  but it is hard to do track workouts and run much slower than 6:00pace.

5.5 easy miles in the morning.  stopped and did some good stretching during the run.  started feeling pretty good towards the end.

pm 5.0 more  miles.  felt pretty good.

8.0 miles this morning.  forced myself out the door.  not feeling too energetic lately but i am not surprised after the 2 harder workouts this past week.

I have definitely had better race days.  Ran the first 12-13 miles pretty good and then just bonked.  I am not quite sure what the deal was.  I was even able to take gu which i haven't done in the last two 13+ mile races. 2:14:16 on my watch, the official clock was 2 minutes fast. no mile markers for the twenty so thank goodness for the garmin. 

1-6:25

2 5:56

3 6:07

4 6:20

5 6:33

6 6:18

7 6:46

8 6:25

9 6:51

10 6:05

11 6:24

 12 6:23

13 6:41

14 7:00

15 6:55

16 7:30

17 8:01

18 7:19

19 7:22

20 6:45

I really had to try hard the last mile to not get passed by the fourth place finisher.  This was still the fastest i have ever ran 20 miles but it wasn't what i was shooting for.  I might need to re evaluate how fast i go out in the marathon.  If this would have a been a marathon, i would have really been in big trouble. 

PM-3.0 easy. figured it was time to hit the road even if only for a few miles.  I think i will pretty much be in full taper mode other than a few key workouts.  I am going to see if it is possible to give my body too much rest between now and the SGM.

PM 4 easy miles at about 10:30pm.  not very energetic.

3-am drug myself out of bed for a little run. still feeling pretty drained.

PM 5.0--I should be feeling rested but this run was 45 mnutes long and i hated every minute of it.  I just don't have any energy.  

AM- nothing, as bad as i felt on last nights run i just slept in.

PM- Headed out the door at about 8:45pm.  It was dark but temps were cool.  Wanted a nice easy 20 miler.  ran the first 10 miles at about 7:30 pace and felt decent but unfortunately i crashed at about 11-12 miles.  pace just kept dropping and by 14 i was 10:00+ pace.  Just walked the last 2-3 miles home.  total time about 2:40:00.  Not sure what the deal is but everything running wise seems to be going straight down the toilet.  I am not sure what to do at this point other than just rest up and see what happens.  I tried to rest this past week but still couldn't hold 7:30 pace much past 10 miles.  It really makes me wonder what to expect in the marathon. 

5.5 before bed.  slow run but felt decent.

8 miles total after work.  it was still warm out.  3 mile warmup up the canyon trail, then a 3 mile tempo starting at mile 4 of 10k, then 2 miles home.

tempo splits-- 5:32,5:38,5:28

I survived it.  body still just feels really beat down.  I have been working more lately and running less.  hammies are sore from using a sledge hammer and shovel a little too much this week.  can i count breaking out driveways and repouring them as cross training?

15miles--Got out early this morning.  wanted closer to 20 miles but i was running way to slow to run that far.  15 miles in 2:21:30. ave pace 9:26 yikes!!!!!!!! just wasn't feeling it.  that was just the pace i felt like running.  who knows i might feel like running that slow in the marathon but i sure hope not.  My right achilles/lower calf has been a little bothersome for a few weeks. legs pretty much just felt heavy and unresponsive, hope that my BIG taper will at least get me feeling a little energetic. 

14 miles early this morning. temps were in the mid 40's.  This was a really good run for me.  total time was 1:39:00 and 6 of the miles were sub 7's.  maybe my body is starting to respond to the extra rest.  achilles felt pretty good(iced it over the weekend) mileage will probably go back up a little this week.

2 miles running from one truck to pick up another.  Started feeling that i was coming down with something yesterday.  Actually i have felt extra tired the last few weeks even though i have been running less and sleeping more.  When I get colds they usually settle in my upper chest.  It is good to be sick now rather than next week.  I can't complain too much because i have been very healthy for the last few years.  I know others are sick too so hopefully we can all get healthy again.

5.5 easy tonight.  congestion is loosening its hold on my lungs and head.  Just glad that the marathon isn't this weekend.

this head cold is really kicking me.  the week started out good but is ending with a thud.  Main thing now is get healthy.

4.0 easy miles before bed.  My cold was better today and i felt like running a little so i did.  still got a ways to go to get better. 4 miles pretty much wiped me out.