Slowly Getting Faster

This is pretty pathetic.  I've been sick all week and haven't been able to run at all.  Regardless, I just realized that last month I ran 30+ miles only two of the 4 weeks.  That is a horrible record.  Now, I've already lost a week this month to sickness.  I need to take a lesson from Jon and just run while sick if I have to. 

This was by far the most fun I have had running since I started 10 years ago.  Granted, I took 5 years off and the rest of my runs were mainly training for St. George.  Regardless, this is a really fun course and a really fun race.

Despite the fun, I thought today would be easier than it was.  The elevation chart on the website shows the 1/2 gaining just under 900' on the steepest section, so I figured that the rest of the up and down would amount to closer to 1500' than the 2,111' that the course ended up throwing at me. The first 4ish miles were all uphill, which was challenging but not too difficult.  The grade was pretty mild the whole way. And once we made it to the top, the down hill on the other side was as much fun as a roller coaster.  The downhill was mostly slick rock and with several huge bounds I made short work of the decent.  That brought me to a dirt road that was mostly sand.  Running in sand is nice on the feet, but tough on the leg muscles. The dirt road continued for about a mile and then we were back to slick rock and several stream jumps before the aid station. 

After the aid station the trail ascended the mountain again and followed the edge of a gorge carved by the river I had just jumped over. Several places along this section of the run I - and everyone else - had to stop to lower myself off of one rock and onto another rock so I could continue down the trail.  The run continued in this fashion until about mile 9.5 where the fun trail terminated at another dirt road. We followed the dirt road for about a mile and half and then turned down into the Kane Creek Wash.  At this point, mile 11, the race crew instructed us that the trail dived directly into the river running at the bottom of the wash.  I don't know if you have ever tried to run with ice cubes for feet, but that was what the next 2.1 miles amounted to.  Nevertheless, it was a ton of fun to run (or wade) down the river to the finish line.

I planned on this race taking me 2 1/2 hours, which it did, but for some reason I the math wasn't working in my head this morning when I told my support team what time to be at the finish line.  I told them to be there at noon and I was done at 11:30.  I spent a cold 30 minutes waiting for them to arrive.

Something that occurred to me doing this today is that race times are really not that important. That's not to say they aren't a good measure of your progress but rather that one race time is not equivalent with any other race time.  differences in courses, terrain, types of races, etc make my road 1/2 marathon time meaningless in relation to my time today or what I could or should have expected my time to be. As it works out, I figured this out before I got here, but I thought maybe it would be useful to pass along as well.  So now, I have a PR for a trial 1/2 marathon.  Next year maybe I can get that time down around 2:15:00.   

I tried to keep this around 6 miles.  I'm attempting to do Brad Hudson's 1/2 marathon adaptive training program and the workout for the day called for 6 miles easy.  I am shooting for a 1:45:00 time, 8 min/mile, so I guessed that an easy pace would be around 9 min miles.  The pace didn't feel forced at all and I went up some steep hills so I think that pace worked out. On those hills I think a fast pace for me would be around 8:20 per mile.  I guess I'll find out what I can do when the workout calls for that. 

Today's workout called for 5 miles plus 1 x 8 second hill sprint.  I went a different route than normal tonight and the course worked out to be mostly flat.  Something like 150' elevation change. As a result, my per mile time dropped a lot. I went from a relaxed and comfortable 6 miles yesterday at almost 9 minute miles to 8:30 per mile today. I think that on this course a medium effort might be 8:20-8:15 and a fast effort would be MP (8:00). 

My hill sprint ended up being longer than 8 seconds.  I tried the 8 second version but it seems like I barely get started and the workout is over.  Almost anticlimactic and certainly unsatisfying.  I expect a good heart pounding, leg burning, gasping for breath effort if I'm going to spring up a hill.  The hill was 15% grade and the sprint was 6:03 per mile pace, which I feel pretty good about.  It will be interesting when the hill sprints become multiples instead of one single effort.   

The workout for today called for 5 miles easy.  I gather from the book that the purpose of all this slow miles is to build my aerobic capacity and my running volume.  Since I have been running 30 miles a week for a while now I'm not sure that the 25 miles on tap for this week is actually going to achieve that purpose.  For that reason, and because I was under time constraints tonight, I opted to do the 5 miles at my hoped for MP.  Until tonight, that was 8 min miles. I didn't know I even could keep a sub 8 min mile time up for 5 miles.

I started out and felt really good.  After about 20 seconds I looked at my watch to make sure my pace was on target and found that I was actually running a 6:30 pace.  So I slowed down as much as I could until it felt like I would be walking if I went any slower.  That worked out to be ~7:35 pace.  So I revised my plan and tried to just keep my pace under 8:00 for the rest of the run.  I was tired at the end but if my bowels hadn't started acting up I think I could of kept going.  Know I think I'm going to shoot for a 7:50 1/2 marathon average pace.  

It was easy run day today, which is good after yesterdays workout. The plan said to do 6 but the jog up city creek canyon was so pleasant that I pushed a bit farther than I had planned.  I passed several people on the way up, which felt great because I wasn't even putting much effort into my pace. On the way down I noticed that at points I was only moving at an 8:30 pace which felt really slow.  It's pretty nice to be able to say that. 

I gained 600', which isn't much to brag about, but I'm pleased that the effort, even up the steeper hills, didn't feel strained at all.  I think my body is getting used to this.  

Feeling fatigued today. Less than 24 hours between this run and my last run.  I know for some that isn't a big deal, but I'm not quite to that level yet. Today's run wasn't hard physically, but it was a challenge mentally.  I think the whole "find the zen" in running idea is apt. I've got to train my mind to deal with the fatigue every bit as much as I've got to train my body.  I read the other day that the hardest part of a 100 mile run is the mental aspect of the last 50 miles. I'm not planning on doing one of those soon, but I think the biggest barrier to my being able to run a sub 8 min mile half in a couple months is going to be the mental aspect as well. If I can train myself to not talk myself out of pushing hard, or putting in the miles, or just enduring, then maybe I can reach the next level. 

I tried to make the run interesting by taking the legacy parkway trail, but that trail is not interesting. I saw some friendly people out there today, always a nice aspect of running on saturday.  

Workout today called for 6 mile progression run with the last 20 minutes at a moderate pace.  I figured my moderate pace is somewhere in the neighborhood of 8:10 - 8:20 per mile.  I picked that number because its not a sprint but its harder than an easy run. Its enough effort to let me know I'm working but not so much I am dead at the end. 

I didn't quite figure the distance for 20 minutes correctly and I only got ~16 minutes of moderate running in.  Next time I need to speed up at mile 3.5 instead of mile 4. The last mile was uphill too, which made it harder, but I pushed the speed to keep my pace fairly consistent. All in all, it was a fun run.  I like the workouts that add some speed in.  It adds some excitement to the miles.  

This was supposed to be 6 miles easy and 2x20 second hill sprints.  The actual workout called for 8 second hill sprints but I've already expressed my views on that. My average pace for the 6 miles was 8:23 per, with my slowest mile being 2 seconds faster than my slowest mile yesterday. I tried to just run at a pace that felt good and I avoided looking at my watch almost the entire time so that I wouldn't psych myself out and push harder than I wanted to.  I'm not sure if the result today is because I pushed my limits or if my limits have just changed.

Regardless, I think I learned something today about how I should approach the race.  Yesterday I felt good, but not as good as I did today.  Yesterday I was coming off a full days rest, today I was not.  So on race week, with the race on Saturday, I think I need to run about half the normal miles for the week, rest on Thursday, and do a tune up run on Friday maybe 3 miles or something before the Saturday race. We'll see how that works.  

Today's workout called for an easy 6 miles.  I really tried not to push to hard because I'm worried my efforts over the last 2 days have been too much.  I don't want to burn out before Saturday. So, going up the canyon I gained 600', and my splits were 9:23, 10:01, 9:43, which I thought was a good easy pace.  On the way down, my splits got progressively faster.  Starting at 8:36, then 8:06, then 7:53.  The last mile was the least steep but the fastest, which makes me think I probably over did it.  The problem I'm having is knowing where that line is.  I never feel like I'm pushing it, but those times are so much faster than I think I should be going.  I guess I'll know by Saturday. 

This was pretty much the same run as yesterday with a little added distance.  I like that canyon, its a pretty run with no traffic.  One of these days soon I'm going to take the Boneville shoreline trail from north salt lake to this City Creek Canyon.  I've seen the trail several times and it looks like a lot of fun.  I just haven't had time to run it yet and it's probably going to snow tomorrow. 

The run today was slower than yesterday, which I think is a sign that I'm getting tired from going so fast all week.  It could also be that I just figured out how to properly pace myself though.  Of course, it could also be that the downhill leg of a canyon run is more taxing on the leg muscles than I previously gave it credit for and by the time I run 3.5 miles up my legs are pretty tired coming down.  Maybe its a combination of those things.  

If it snows tomorrow I'm not sure where or when I will run and I might be reduced to a treadmill if its as bad as the weather report keeps saying it will be. I'm not looking forward to that.  

the workout today called for 6 + 2x8second hill sprints.  Instead, I decided to do 6 up Bonneville Shoreline Trail from City Creek to the Summit by Ensign Peak.  It was a great trail but I brought the wrong footwear for the job.  I hadn't planned on running this course when I woke up this morning so I packed my road shoes in my bag.  I love my road shoes but they are not ideal for trail running, especially when the trail is as rocky as that one can be in some places. 

For the past 2 weeks I have been running up City Creek Canyon at least a couple of times during the week.  The canyon road is nice because its paved and even in the steep parts its not such a steep grade that I even have to walk or slow down all that much.  This has built my confidence and left me with the false impression that the trail would be a nice relatively easy run as well.  I was mistaken.  there were a couple of points that I had to walk due to the steepness of the incline, and even the downhill was pretty rough though mostly because of my footwear.  It is an awesome trail and I think if I can alter my runs to take advantage of that kind of elevation gain I will get stronger and faster. 

this was 5 miles up Farmington Canyon, up to the place where the pavement ends.  Its was slow for a couple of reasons.  Fist, the grade up there is pretty steep - much steeper than city creek.  Second, it had rained or something last night and the road was icy and I didn't have any spikes to keep me from falling on my face.  consequently, I had to take it slow going up and slow coming down.  That said, it was a ton of fun.  I have never been able to get that far up that road before.  It was just under 1000' or gain but I think I could have kept going if I had better shoes on.  One day soon I'm going to go up to the next switchback in the road.  Maybe after I get me some Altra Kings Peak trail shoes. 

I did 9 up city creek today.  The workout called for 9 with the last 20 minutes being moderate.  I have found it is hard to get into the grove on the down hill for a couple of miles, especially after making the transition from going up hill. Today I felt tired until the last couple of miles.  My uphill was not as fast as it normally is, and my downhill started out slow as well.  By the last couple of miles though I had found my grove and I was cruising.  

The last 4.5 miles of this run were all down hill, and the last 2 are pretty gradual elevation drop.  Not quite level, but not steep either.  In the past two weeks I have run those 2 miles at least 5 times, and the fastest I have ever managed to cover those miles is 7:30 per.  Today I covered the last mile in 6:50! I was pretty excited because not only is that fast for me, but it felt completely natural.  I could have gone another mile at that pace I think.  Tomorrow I may try to do my workout on a flat course just to see how fast I can go there.  I've been doing a lot of uphill work, and a lot of downhill work to go along with it, and I think I may have improved my time.

One last thought I had tonight.  A lot of people tell me that they don't like to run because it is boring.  At one time in my life I had that same opinion.  But I think that maybe running is boring when its a chore.  When I push myself and run faster than I thought I could or when I am able to run up mountains that I couldn't have run up before running is a blast.  So maybe if running is boring your just not pushing hard enough. 

I think I over did it yesterday because I feel really tired today.  My legs were a little sore starting out today as well, though it went away after a half mile or so. The 9 miles I did yesterday is the farthest I have run since the 5th and I'm not sure I was ready for that at the beginning of the week. I need to adjust the recommended workout so that those runs are at the end with a day of rest between them and the softer runs throughout the week.  Maybe.  I'll see how the rest of the week plays out I guess. 

I was supposed to do a 7 mile fartlek run today but I was really tired and my legs feel exhausted.  Instead I did 6 miles at an easy pace.  I'm happy to report that even completely exhausted my easy pace is 8:33 per mile. That is definitely an improvement over even just a month ago. I am also pretty please with how I felt about the course today.  I ran this same route last summer - down jordan river parkway from 400 South to 2100 South - and I remembered it being much farther than it was today.  It seemed to go by pretty quick and painlessly.  It would be interesting to see how fast I ran that course last summer. 

 I have been running uphill every day for at least a week and I think that it improved my run but at the cost of the longevity of my legs.  I need to work up to that I guess.  Next week I'll pepper in more flat runs with my canyon running. 

I didn't have a lot of time today so I couldn't go for the long run that I wanted.  Instead, I decided I should do a short, fast run. I managed to do 5 on a semi hilly course in 7:52 per mile.  I was pretty happy about it. 

Today I wanted to make up some of the miles I missed earlier in the week.  Since there is no work and no school today it seemed like the perfect time.  I did 10 in 8:39 per mile, which is the fastest I've run 10 miles since 2006. It was also encouraging that this pace was not strained at all. It was a nice mellow run.  My legs were a bit stiff and soar to start, but it went away and by the end I felt great. 

I was supposed to do 7 miles today and 3 hill sprints.  Instead, I did 5 miles and no hill sprints.  I think that the 10 I did yesterday must have taken it out of me.  My calf muscles started sore and never got better.  In fact, they got more painful as I went. I spent a good 20 minutes stretching before I went out but my hip (I.T.?) also started to get tight around mile 3.  I decided it would be best to cut the run short and take it easy instead of pushing through and ending up injured.

On the up side, I managed to break 40 miles this week. That's the first time I've done that in a while. 

The goal tonight was to make sure my "easy" miles stayed easy miles.  I'm not sure why I crashed at the end of the week last week but I'm suspicious that it had something to do with 5 miles at 7:50 pace followed by 10 miles at 8:30 pace followed by me thinking I could do all that and still do another 7 miles at 8:30 the next day.  With my total miles exceeding any previous weeks mileage by at least 4 miles I think I just pushed to hard and ended up killing myself.  So today I tried to keep my easy miles to between 8:40 and 9 minute miles.  I was pretty good. All except 1 of my splits were in the range, and the one outside the range was mostly downhill. I don't feel exhausted tonight but my legs are sore already, which I don't think is a good sign.  If I have to I'll limit my miles this week to match last week, rather than do an extra 4 miles as suggested by the workout plan. 

I started a little sore, which I expected after yesterday.  But it went away pretty quick, which I didn't expect based on yesterday.  I'm starting to notice that after a day off my form isn't as good and I have to work back into it. after I figured it out today I was good. The run felt good. 

I'm getting tired of running at night.  It's cold, people keep trying to hit me with their cars, and tonight it was raining off an on - a fact that only makes the coldness that much worse.  To combat these problems I decided to go to the gym and run on the treadmill.  This solution was not without problems though. To begin with, it's a treadmill and I haven't run on a treadmill for a very long time.  the second major issue is that a treadmill, or at least the treadmills at the gym I go to, will only let me run for 40 minutes before stopping - so distance is out. Finally, the treadmill is, or at least can be, very boring. 

My solution to these problems was to run hard and fast and make sure I get a good workout in if I can't get distance. I decided that the first mile should be slow so I could adapt to the treadmill experience again and after a mile I felt just fine.  So I took my speed up.  It should be noted that the treadmill was always at a 1% incline to account for the friction that is experienced on the road but lacking on a treadmill.  I ran the first mile at 8:57 pace then upped my pace to 7:47.  I held the 7:47 pace for the next 1.5. After that I dropped my pace to 8:20 for a half mile to recover and then sped back up to 7:30 for another 1.3 miles.  At the 4.3 mark I sped up again to an even 7:00 pace and maintained that until I hit 4.8 where I sped up again to 6:48 for the final .2.  The 6:48 was tough to maintain, especially after running the 7:30 and 7:00 pace, so it's a good thing I only had to do that for a short distance.  I found that running the treadmill this way was not only a great workout but that the treadmill was actually pretty fun like this.  I still wish I could go for more distance, but I'll take what I can get I guess.