my makeup may be flaking

Ok, kicking off the new year with a bang here.

Just ran around the Island in 1:19:44 today. (it's a pretty hilly half marathon). I had some weird aches and pains in my legs so I started out slowly running only 20:34 for the first 3.2 miles. (I have weird markers here on mercer Island). I then ran 59:11 for the next 9.9 miles (5:59 pace). Given the hills this was the equivalent of 5:46 pace. This was all depite a punishing headwind for the last 4 miles and some driving rain. In fact I picked up the pace a little at the end despite the lousy conditions. I felt like I definitely could have kept this pace going for quite a bit more!

Easy day. I had a few aches and pains to begin with.

Did 10.4 miles in 71 mins (6:49 per mil)

First day back in Salt Lake City. I was greeted by my roommate chris with this one line poem:

Cauliflower dipped in chocolate makes my toes runny.

I started to train in earnest for a big race so I had to develop some tendonitis above my foot. This is at least the 6th time I've had this injury and it seems to be hitting me once every 8 months. I just stopped running and walked home. I'll need to take a couple of days off to get over this.

Took today "off". I still played racquetball for two hours though.

Tried a little running on my foot today. I ran 7.5 miles at just over 7min/mile and everything felt fine.

I ran 10.4 miles in the morning. Total time was 65:33 (33:14,32:19). (6:18/mile). This required some concentration because of the ice and cold but it wasn't really much of a strain.

I did 4.7 around campus in 33:11. The construction on HPER highway is going to be a mjor problem for students this semester, this is very poor planning by the university.

I then played some racquetball afterwards.

I was quite sore today. That combined with the snow led me to a pretty slow pace (7:45/mile). I had some pain in my groin (no, it's not a hernia) as well as my hamstrings.

I felt much better today. I did 10.4 in 67:51 (35:56,31:55). So I started out much slower (as I was still sore) but I got into a comfortable rhythm and didn't really have much trouble with the hills in the latter part of the run.

I did three loops of Liberty Park in the evening. I went back and forth between grass, snow and pavement and gradually increased my pace as I went (unfortunately I didn't time it. The main problem with this run was that I was very hungry when it was over.

10.4 74 mins

4.8 (29:56) around campus

3 Running home

14.8 miles in 1:31:05 (6:09 pace). This run was interesting as it seemed to get easier as I went. I got to ten miles in 1:02:08 (6:13) then ran the last 4.8 in 28:57 (6:02 pace). I sped up and started to feel much better. In the fall I ran close to 1:28 in flat and this run was in training shoes. Today's run was also much colder and earlier in the day. Hopefully in flats I'll be able to do this run in 1:25 or faster.

Did 10.4 in the morning in 79minutes (42 then 37). Then I did 5.5 in the evening in Liberty Park.

A new record for this course in trainers. (I ran quite a bit faster in flats before). I ran 64:50 (34:09 followed by 30:41). I actually started out quite slowly. I was about 1 minute behind what the course tool said I should be at halfway and then I hammered home. This is still not very fast (6:14 pace). Breaking 60 in trainers would be nice, but very difficult.

Run took me 2:12 (7:40 pace). That's pretty slow considering that my legs didn't really feel that bad. It was kind of cold but really smoggy, I think that may have slowed me down quite a bit.

Ok, I'm gradually getting closer to where I should be on my base runs. The day after a two hour plus run I did my regular loop. I started slowly and then gradually picked it up as I went. I ran 1:04:19 (33:50,30:29) for the two halves (6:11 pace). This was despite being at close to 7 minute pace through two miles.

Ran in the morningin flats, 8miles. Then ran to and from school. Then I ran at school.

One loop of sugarhouse. Yay! No snow!

An unexpectedly busy day. I ran 4 in the morning then did 6.5 uptempo in the evening. (5:58/mile).

Combination liberty park/sugarhouse park run. I was running 7:30 pace at the beginning but then I finished up with some miles at under six minute pace. (7:02 per mile)

Three loops of sugarhouse. Still no snow!

I ran to and from school. Then, in the evening, I ran 10.4 miles in my flats. I felt surprisingly good. I ran only a slight negative split (30:30, 29:28) which is what you'd expect from the terrain. Overall time was 59:58 (5:45/mile) which is the fastest I've ever done this course. I think I'm going to need to be able to consistently about two minutes faster than this by Boston. That being said, this was not terribly difficult for me.

Just two loops easy around sugarhouse park.

9.5 in the morning

then 4 on the track in the evening.

Miles 5:54,5:44,5:37,5:39

I ran three loops of liberty park in the morning.

In the evening, I did two loops of Sugarhouse starting from school. I tried to do them pretty fast. First loop in 11:32 second in 11:10. I took a 3minute breather in between. These felt pretty fast but that was probably because it was dark. I didn't feel that tired afterwards, so I think I'm just not really used to shorter faster stuff at the moment. This shouldn't be too surprising. Hopefully, when things warm up I'll be able to get under 11 again.

One loop of sugarhouse park.

THINK ABOUT IT run. My epic run across the Salt Lake Valley and back again. The plan was to start out relaxed, then try to pick it up as I approached the turnaround and shoot for about 6:20 pace on the way back. Mission accomplished. I ran a pretty consistent 7mins per mile on the way out. I wasn't feeling very tired and its a flat run so 7mins per mile came kind of naturally. I was trying to keep it honest so that it would be easier to pick it up later. If I start out a long run too slow, it's hard to pick it up. Out in 1:18:14 (6:57 pace). Then I turned around and ran hard on the way back. Back in 1:11:18 (6:20 pace). This pace didn't feel especially hard but I had some aches and pains that made it not totally comfortable. I actually ran 6:10 pace for the very end when the course turned uphill but that was mostly due to it warming up enough to shed a layer I think.