Rivers and Roads

What a memorable day of running. Emily and I went down to St. George for the Lake to Lake Relay. It's a small relay that her family likes to do. This was going to be my first time I donned the SRC jersey since June of last year. My first leg was Leg #4, a 5.2-mile sprint down a bike path. The downhill made it fast but the bike path made it difficult. I felt better than I ever have, though, and finished at a 5:56 AP. It was so fun to feel fast again. Although I plan on getting much faster this year, that's one of the fastest runs I've ever had. Very encouraging. I didn't have high expectations for my results and after the first leg I felt I had achieved success. That took the pressure off and got me excited for my second leg. Feeling that I had spent myself I only wanted to push and have fun. The second leg (#9) was a dirt road that rolls and climbs about 500 ft. during the 5.9-mile effort (6:50 AP). There are a couple big hills, one at 1 mile and one at 5 miles. I'm so excited that I'm back to where I was last year. I finally feel like I've climbed my way back to where I used to be and now I can start exploring new territory. I ran a 3.7 out and back to fetch our last runner and bring him into the finish line. Then ate a 4 lb. carne asada burrito at a hole-in-the-wall mexican place and life was perfect.

Recovery jog. AP 8:02

Just another recovery jog on the PRT. Only had a 90 min. window to run today with two work shifts and some elders quorum projects. Spoke with Salem on the phone which cut into the run. But it was worth catching up with her. It's probably for the best because I'm still pretty tight after Saturday's race. AP 7:45

Easy lunch run with Jake. AP 7:33

Easy 8 on the PRT to loosen up for tomorrow's 20. I couldn't believe how heavy and tired my legs felt. I hope going slow will help rid me of this funk and get me ready for tomorrow. AP 8:04

Today was awesome. All the doubts I had after yesterday's run were silenced this morning. Jake ran  the first 10 with me on the Murdock. We ran the first 5 hovering right at 7:00 and then decided to run the next 5 at MP (AP 6:29). Jakes stomach was given him fits so he ended his run there. I ran the next 10 solo just enjoying the perfect weather this morning. Felt entirely strong until mile 18ish and even after that never felt defeated by the mileage. But for my first 20 this year I couldn't have asked for a better outcome. So glad to be feeling strong again. AP 7:03

Recovery jog with Emily. We both had the got-to-go's but the weather was beautiful. AP 11:36

Met Blake this morning at the BYU Indoor track. He's a trooper waking up at 5 a.m. with a new baby. We had some good conversation about breaking mental barriers holding us back in our training. I hadn't done speedwork for a couple weeks so thought I'd ease into it. I ran the first 3 repeats in 5:28, 5:30, and 5:23. It felt somewhat conservative. The last repeat I went for nothing but speed and came in at 5:07. The first quarter mile or so I was running closer to 5:20/5:25 so I really pushed the last 0.75 miles. It felt awesome. I'm feeling stronger than I ever have. I've decided that this year I'm going to recover more aggressively. Last year I think I was far too conservative during the weeks after long runs and races. I had been following some advice I'd taken from people far more experienced than I. But I've decided that doesn't work for me. I need to push myself more. And I feel like today's workout proves it.

Beautiful weather on this afternoon run. Went out for an easy 10 and threw a couple MP miles into the middle (6:24, 6:27) to feel some turnover. Feeling extremely good about how this week is going. Last Saturday was my first 20-miler of the year and I feel incredibly lucky it didn't set me back this week. I feel like I'm only moving forward right now.

Ran with the Big Dogs this morning. It's always a fun experience. MP is feeling easier and easier. I didn't even realize until my watch would beep at the mile splits that we were hovering around my MP for most of the way back. Good run. AP 7:09

Just an easy shakeout. I've been running more MP miles this week than I have in the past. And this week followed my first 20-miler. So, I think my body just needed to go slow, easy, and short today. AP 7:59

I'll remember today's run for a long time. We went up to Aunt Suz's cabin in Wallsburg on Friday night and woke up on Saturday morning to party all day with the fam. It was a gorgeous day, minus the outrageous wind. My original plan was to do 15 easy but without a running buddy up there (Emily was sick) I was having a hard time committing to a long solo effort. So, I decided that I'd settle for 11 miles since I've felt good about my miles this week. I accidentally ended up running 5.3 miles at MP (AP 6:22) which I'm excited about. 6:30 is just feeling easier and easier, which tells me that I'm doing things right. A huge confidence boosting run even though it wasn't particularly long or particularly fast. Just loving how things are going. AP 7:07

Yesterday Emily and I were sick so we slept a ton. I woke up at 5:30 this morning and was wide awake. So, I figured I'd get out the door and if I felt terrible I could always turn right back around. I felt stiff and achey but pressed on for some grueling miles. We'll see if that was brave or stupid by the end of the day. AP 8:19

This was not an encouraging workout. I'm going to assume my body was still weak from being sick on Sunday (even though I really wasn't that sick... But Emily thinks I was). Jake and I planned on doing 6x1000m on the track with 600m recovery. We ended up doing 4x1000m with 600m recovery since niether of us was feeling well (3:42, 3:40, 3:38, 3:37). I really hope these times were so slow because I was sick. If I really do lack speed that badly I'm in trouble. It is possible though, since most of my speedwork has been geared toward the marathon. Time will tell. Let's just say I feel I have a lot of unfinished business on the track. I'll be trying this again soon. AP 7:47

Great run with Jake on his lunch break. Finally felt back to full strength after weak runs on Monday and Tuesday. Cruising just above MP and we were talking the entire run. AP 7:03

Easy miles out by the lake on the PRT. First 2 miles with Emily. Easy feels good right now. Just a little sluggish this week. AP 8:06

Another easy run. Going 17 tomorrow and if I feel good I might include a short tempo. Giving the legs a chance to get ready for that. AP 7:30

This was just a rough week. I'm just glad I didn't give up and take days off. My mileage has still increased the last 3 weeks and I hit the high 50's this week. That's important since next week is my final build week before my taper for Boston.

Some interesting stats up until this point. 5 of the last 8 weeks I've eclipsed 50 miles. The other 3 were 48, 49, and 41 (when I was sick for several days). Last year I had 6 50-mile weeks all year. I'm at 522.5 miles for the year after a slow January. That's almost half of the mileage I had all of last year.  I'm a much stronger runner this year and I'm excited for next week--The Final Build.

Today's run sucked. I felt sluggish and I was just churning out the miles waiting for the end. But, I did it. AP 7:21

Ran the Murdock nice and easy up in Cedar Hills while Emily was teaching piano. Loved exploring this part of the Murdock. Absolutely gorgeous weather (60ish). Just enjoyed this recovery jog. AP 7:59

A.M. Missed the speedwork this morning but was kind of glad because I want to save my legs for Saturday's Boston simulation. I think I would have been pressured into running faster than I should this week. Did my own run out by the lake. Threw in 2 miles at MP (6:22, 6:23). It felt pretty good but I still feel a little slow and sluggish. Let's hope I get past this by Saturday. AP 7:17

P.M. Went on a trail run/hike with Emily and Chris. The gorgeous weather continues. Got to watch the sunset. AP 18:38

Started my run at 7:25 p.m. Bad choice. A crazy hail storm rolled in. I was not prepared for it and promptly turned around. AP 7:55

Ran with Jake out by Vineyard. I absolutely love running out there. We went a little faster than we had planned but it felt easy the whole way. We talked about Saturday's long run and a lot about Boston pacing. Starting to get really excited for Boston. AP 7:09

Really easy solo 10 out by the lake. Hoping my legs are rested enough to make tomorrow's race simulation really effective. AP 7:45

First of all, happy birthday, Brandon! What an inspiring friend. He's a champ at life. I loved running out there with such a great group (Jake L., Scott, Brandon, Matt, Mike, Toni, Dave, Spencer, Ryan J.). Really fed off the energy of all these inspiring runners. Great feast at Magleby's afterwards.

Executed today's Boston simulation perfectly. We ran 5.5 WU on the PRT from the soccer park to Bridal Veil. The avalanche had melted enough it was easy to climb over. Started 15 miles of MP tempo with Spencer from that point. Ran the 2 miles left to Vivian then turned around (crossing the bridge to avoid the avalanche and taking the old highway to meet back up with the PRT at Nunn's) and tempoed out to Will's. Turned around there and headed north to 800 N. Spencer hung back and called it good. I really needed this tempo for my mental strength. I learned that I have trained well enough to have some ownership of 6:30 pace. Uphill, downhill, or flat I can run this pace. I had to extend on the Murdock and overshoot the park to get my 15 in (6:33 AP for the 15). I also learned not to freak out having a few miles in the 6:40's and 6:50's. I can make up for it on the downhills with controlled, mile-by-mile evalutaions. This was a big run for me. I'm getting very excited for Boston. This was an honest 22 with some downhill and a lot of climbing. All in, baby. AP 6:54

My pes anserinus is inflamed. I'm hoping I can nip this in the bud by the end of the week. I can't let this set me back too much. AP 8:13