A Balance, Redefined

Utah Valley Half Marathon

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Location:

Vestavia,AL,USA

Member Since:

May 31, 2007

Gender:

Male

Goal Type:

Other

Running Accomplishments:

Marathon Top 10 Finishes: 7 Bridges ('15), Utah Valley ('13), Salt Lake City ('08), Top of Utah ('07), and St. Louis ('04). Ran around the equator (24901.55) in 4,388 days.

Personal Records
Marathon 2:39 (SLC '08)
1/2 Marathon 1:12.30 (Provo River, aided '08)
10K 34:16 (Track, sea level '00)
10K 33:15 (Des 10K, aided '08)
8K 25:32 (Crack of Dawn, aided '13)
5K 16:44 (Track, sea level '00)
5K 16:07 (Running of the Leopards, aided '12)
 

Short-Term Running Goals:

NYC Marathon November 3, 2019 done 

London Marathon October 3, 2021 done

Tokyo Marathon March 3, 2024!!!

And my largest challenge to date, raise $20,000 for the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society in honor of my cancer survivorship and in memory of those lost to blood cancer...
DONE! $26,403.70

https://pages.lls.org/tnt/al/london2021/awende

Long-Term Running Goals:

Enjoy being a Masters Runner.

Get under 3 hours one more time...

Personal:

Grew up outside Chicago and joined the blog while I lived in Salt Lake City. Now living outside Birmingham. I am married with two daughters. Wife thinks I'm crazy for doing marathons. And yes I am crazy I'm a scientist for a living...

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Miles:This week: 0.00 Month: 0.00 Year: 331.25
RM 090416 Lifetime Miles: 136.06
Saucony Type A Lifetime Miles: 200.18
Nike Vaporfly Pink Lifetime Miles: 122.22
Saucony Ride #37 - Black Lifetime Miles: 56.50
Saucony Ride #38 - Neon Lifetime Miles: 53.50
Saucony Ride #39 - Grey Lifetime Miles: 59.50
Brooks Launch #38 - Grey Lifetime Miles: 65.25
Brooks Launch #39 - White Lifetime Miles: 57.50
Brooks Launch #40 - Blue Lifetime Miles: 54.00
Easy MilesMarathon Pace MilesThreshold MilesVO2 Max MilesTrainer 1 MilesTrainer 2 MilesRacer MilesTotal Distance
123.5013.000.000.000.000.000.00136.50
Saucony Rides #6 Miles: 58.00Saucony Rides #7 Miles: 23.50RM 090416 Miles: 1.30Brooks Launch #1 Miles: 19.50Adidas Adistar (flats) #2 Miles: 19.00Asics DS-Trainer #4 Miles: 8.00Asics DS-Trainer #5 Miles: 8.50
Night Sleep Time: 139.00Nap Time: 2.00Total Sleep Time: 141.00Weight: 0.00
Easy MilesMarathon Pace MilesThreshold MilesVO2 Max MilesTrainer 1 MilesTrainer 2 MilesRacer MilesTotal Distance
3.500.000.000.000.000.000.003.50

A busier day than I thought... Only time for a few miles from home.

Saucony Rides #6 Miles: 3.50
Night Sleep Time: 5.00Nap Time: 0.00Total Sleep Time: 5.00Weight: 0.00
Comments(4)
Easy MilesMarathon Pace MilesThreshold MilesVO2 Max MilesTrainer 1 MilesTrainer 2 MilesRacer MilesTotal Distance
4.000.000.000.000.000.000.004.00

The next few weeks are going to be busy so the focus of my "training" will be maintaining a balance between the demands of this and staying healthy. Today I worked 5:30am-5:30pm. Managed to get home for family dinner and some playtime before bedtime. Then just did the treadmill. I did my favorite treadmill workout which is an acceleration run. Started at 8min pace increasing 0.1 mph each 0.1 mi up to 11.4 mph. 

Avg. 6:28

Saucony Rides #6 Miles: 4.00
Night Sleep Time: 5.00Nap Time: 0.00Total Sleep Time: 5.00Weight: 0.00
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Easy MilesMarathon Pace MilesThreshold MilesVO2 Max MilesTrainer 1 MilesTrainer 2 MilesRacer MilesTotal Distance
7.000.000.000.000.000.000.007.00

Wow was this a week... Survived it but it sure was busy. Part of the problem with setting your own workload and having a lot of ambition I guess. Good news is I can also have flexibility with my hours so I went home early and took both girls on my run today. We did the Suicide Rock loop but stopped at Dog Park for them to play at the playground for a while before heading home. 

Avg. 8:49 HR 136 pushing both girls

Saucony Rides #6 Miles: 7.00
Night Sleep Time: 5.00Nap Time: 0.00Total Sleep Time: 5.00Weight: 0.00
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Easy MilesMarathon Pace MilesThreshold MilesVO2 Max MilesTrainer 1 MilesTrainer 2 MilesRacer MilesTotal Distance
12.000.000.000.000.000.000.0012.00

Had to work this morning and will have to work more today. But took a long break in the late morning with the family for a run to the Memory Grove overlook. On the way back we stopped both at a playground for a little and had brought a kite with in the stroller and stopped to fly that for a little as well. 

Avg. 10:00 HR 131 pushing both girls, Ascent 1533ft Descent 1595ft

Saucony Rides #7 Miles: 12.00
Night Sleep Time: 6.00Nap Time: 0.00Total Sleep Time: 6.00Weight: 0.00
Comments(11)
Easy MilesMarathon Pace MilesThreshold MilesVO2 Max MilesTrainer 1 MilesTrainer 2 MilesRacer MilesTotal Distance
0.000.000.000.000.000.000.000.00

18 hr work day. No time for a run. Good news is I managed to finish by midnight.

Night Sleep Time: 0.00Nap Time: 0.00Total Sleep Time: 0.00Weight: 0.00
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Easy MilesMarathon Pace MilesThreshold MilesVO2 Max MilesTrainer 1 MilesTrainer 2 MilesRacer MilesTotal Distance
4.000.000.000.000.000.000.004.00

A little too tired to do much more. The meeting went well and both my poster and talk were well received. I did a brief hike after the practice and then did what I could before heading home.

Saucony Rides #6 Miles: 4.00
Night Sleep Time: 5.00Nap Time: 0.00Total Sleep Time: 5.00Weight: 0.00
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Easy MilesMarathon Pace MilesThreshold MilesVO2 Max MilesTrainer 1 MilesTrainer 2 MilesRacer MilesTotal Distance
7.000.000.000.000.000.000.007.00

Well the weekend caught up with me and I have a little of my wife's cold. Good news is that I don't feel as bad as I sound. The day went very well and got some good experimental results so that is always a plus. Finished the day doing the Suicide Loop run with a friend from work. Either still the fatigue of the weekend or the fact that I was running with someone else but it sure felt like I was pushing it some today. 

Avg.  7:26 HR 145

RM 090416 Miles: 0.03Brooks Launch #1 Miles: 7.00
Night Sleep Time: 6.00Nap Time: 0.00Total Sleep Time: 6.00Weight: 0.00
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Easy MilesMarathon Pace MilesThreshold MilesVO2 Max MilesTrainer 1 MilesTrainer 2 MilesRacer MilesTotal Distance
0.000.000.000.000.000.000.000.00

Not exactly the week I had planned for my intro back into racing. I decided to go to sleep early to hopefully kick this cold before Saturday...

Night Sleep Time: 6.00Nap Time: 0.00Total Sleep Time: 6.00Weight: 0.00
Comments(2)
Easy MilesMarathon Pace MilesThreshold MilesVO2 Max MilesTrainer 1 MilesTrainer 2 MilesRacer MilesTotal Distance
6.500.000.000.000.000.000.006.50

Home loop. Just trying to not let this cold get me down.

RM 090416 Miles: 0.01Saucony Rides #6 Miles: 6.50
Night Sleep Time: 6.00Nap Time: 0.00Total Sleep Time: 6.00Weight: 0.00
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Easy MilesMarathon Pace MilesThreshold MilesVO2 Max MilesTrainer 1 MilesTrainer 2 MilesRacer MilesTotal Distance
2.500.000.000.000.000.000.002.50

Commute run. Tonight head to Provo. Still coughing a little but looking forward to tomorrow.

Saucony Rides #7 Miles: 2.50
Night Sleep Time: 6.00Nap Time: 0.00Total Sleep Time: 6.00Weight: 0.00
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Race: Utah Valley Half Marathon (13.14 Miles) 01:16:37, Place overall: 8, Place in age division: 1
Easy MilesMarathon Pace MilesThreshold MilesVO2 Max MilesTrainer 1 MilesTrainer 2 MilesRacer MilesTotal Distance
6.0013.000.000.000.000.000.0019.00

Overall I’m very happy with this weekend. After the girls went down on Friday I drove down to Provo for packet pick-up. On my way out I saw Jeff and caught up with him for a while. I even got to meet his family. I then slept at a friend’s parents’ house. It was nice being able to sleep into 3am on Saturday. My head hit the pillow and I was out until my alarm went off. The morning was good and I was up near the start with plenty of time to spare. The start area was well stocked with port’o potties though for the first time in history I had a zero star race. This had me nervous how my guts would respond to the descent. I saw James and Fritz at the start, but knew I would be hanging way back from them. In fact I had no idea what I was doing. I realistically thought anything from a 1:15 to a 1:25 was possible and expected. I was hoping to at least hit the 1:20 mark and would be happy with anything under that. However I did not go into this race with a game plan other than to enjoy being at a starting line with a fun race ahead of me. I did about a mile of warm up.

 

The gun went off exactly at 6:00 am and we were off. I knew this course was fast as the last time I raced down this Canyon I ran a 1:12 (Provo River ½ 2008). So I just hung back and watched the lead pack take off. I found myself in a group of about 3-4 other guys with one lone woman (I think Andrea) in between the leaders and us. Two of those guys started to go so I went with them. One soon dropped off and me and the other guy passed the women but the other guy soon left me as well. I counted about 9 runners ahead and was happy to be running in ~10th place. I ran on my own for a brief moment until a BYU student (Michael) caught me and asked what I was shooting for. I told him about 1:20 and we ran together for a couple miles chatting most of them. However, the canyon and the need to push myself soon took over and I started to leave him. I was solo running from that point on until about mile 10. At that point an SUU runner caught me. At the time I heard someone gaining on me I was convinced it would be Andrea as I figured from her recent 10K she should be finishing right around me. In any case this guy was a good kick in the butt and we chatted briefly as he got me to pick back up the pace. He miss judged the course and said we had one mile to go when we had two. He dropped me then I caught him again and he dropped me one more time before the finish. It was good to have the distraction and get in a little racing at the end. When I saw the clock I couldn’t believe my eyes. I finished and chatted with Fritz and James briefly. I was able to meet Andrea and talk to her for a short time as well. She had an amazing 1:17 and I was right to have suspected her on my heals. After a brief break, Fritz and I took a cool down back to the cars and then back in time to see Paul finish a very amazing 2nd in the full in 2:19. We stuck around to see a number of the St. George contingent cross the line and then I ran back to find Jeff and run him in the last mile or so. It got a little warm there at the end for the marathoners. Total I did about 5 miles of cool down. After that I caught up with a number of the guys I hadn’t seen in over a year. It was nice talking with them again however briefly.

 

Here are the race details; Split (HR)

5:43 (166)

5:50 (174)

6:01 (178)

5:42 (179)

5:30 (179)

5:42 (178)

5:47 (180)

5:44 (181)

6:00 (180)

5:56 (180)

6:06 (182)

5:51 (181)

My Garmin messed up here and didn’t record the last split and the “change”. I saw 1:16 something with 13.14 miles.

5:59 (?)

0:45 (?)

 

8th Overall, 1st Age, Gun Time 1:16:37

 

As I said I am super happy with this performance. The way I feel tonight makes me believe I could start training for a marathon again and overall just really enjoyed seeing so many of you out there. It had been too long.

Adidas Adistar (flats) #2 Miles: 19.00
Night Sleep Time: 0.00Nap Time: 0.00Total Sleep Time: 0.00Weight: 0.00
Comments(11)
Easy MilesMarathon Pace MilesThreshold MilesVO2 Max MilesTrainer 1 MilesTrainer 2 MilesRacer MilesTotal Distance
0.000.000.000.000.000.000.000.00

Recovery day.

Night Sleep Time: 8.00Nap Time: 0.00Total Sleep Time: 8.00Weight: 0.00
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Easy MilesMarathon Pace MilesThreshold MilesVO2 Max MilesTrainer 1 MilesTrainer 2 MilesRacer MilesTotal Distance
4.000.000.000.000.000.000.004.00

Right back to it... Feeling fairly good leg wise but a lot to catch up on from the work free weekend. Just did some treadmill miles to test the legs.

Avg. 7:18

Saucony Rides #6 Miles: 4.00
Night Sleep Time: 5.00Nap Time: 0.00Total Sleep Time: 5.00Weight: 0.00
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Easy MilesMarathon Pace MilesThreshold MilesVO2 Max MilesTrainer 1 MilesTrainer 2 MilesRacer MilesTotal Distance
9.000.000.000.000.000.000.009.00

For only being Tuesday it feels like I have worked a full week. I have to travel for work soon and the buildup before the departure is always like trying to squeeze all the time that I'm going to be away into the time remaining. Meaning 10 work days are being condensed down to 5... I did have a nice run tonight and the weather was perfect. Random south course.

Avg. 7:39 HR 150

RM 090416 Miles: 1.01Saucony Rides #7 Miles: 9.00
Night Sleep Time: 5.00Nap Time: 0.00Total Sleep Time: 5.00Weight: 0.00
Comments(1)
Easy MilesMarathon Pace MilesThreshold MilesVO2 Max MilesTrainer 1 MilesTrainer 2 MilesRacer MilesTotal Distance
8.000.000.000.000.000.000.008.00

Dry Creek to Shoreline Trail run with friend from work. I was a little overzealous with the great half in my pocket. My right achilles acted up a little but I'll back off the next two days... 

Avg. 9:55 HR 135 Ascent 1613ft Descent 1713ft

Asics DS-Trainer #4 Miles: 8.00
Night Sleep Time: 6.00Nap Time: 0.00Total Sleep Time: 6.00Weight: 0.00
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Easy MilesMarathon Pace MilesThreshold MilesVO2 Max MilesTrainer 1 MilesTrainer 2 MilesRacer MilesTotal Distance
2.500.000.000.000.000.000.002.50

Just a commute run. A lot to take care of today... Good news is my achilles feels much better this morning.

Avg. 10:17 HR 135

Asics DS-Trainer #5 Miles: 2.50
Night Sleep Time: 5.00Nap Time: 0.00Total Sleep Time: 5.00Weight: 0.00
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Easy MilesMarathon Pace MilesThreshold MilesVO2 Max MilesTrainer 1 MilesTrainer 2 MilesRacer MilesTotal Distance
0.000.000.000.000.000.000.000.00

Travel woes... I am currently supposed to be in Brussels. However, today (Saturday) I am in Atlanta. Kind of funny considering I flew to JFK first... In any case no running today. Up in the AM breakfast with the family and then off to the airport.

Night Sleep Time: 5.00Nap Time: 0.00Total Sleep Time: 5.00Weight: 0.00
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Easy MilesMarathon Pace MilesThreshold MilesVO2 Max MilesTrainer 1 MilesTrainer 2 MilesRacer MilesTotal Distance
0.000.000.000.000.000.000.000.00

Not sure how much/if I slept last night. I was sitting in a plane from 11am MST to 11pm EST (10 hrs straight). Between holding patterns over JFK and a diversion to I think Philly to refuel and then circling over JFK again... Missed my connecting flight by 21 minutes and had to sleep in the terminal as I only had 5 hr between rebooking my flight and my next check in time. Now I'm sitting in Atlanta waiting for my next attempt at making it across the pond. 

Night Sleep Time: 2.00Nap Time: 0.00Total Sleep Time: 2.00Weight: 0.00
Comments(3)
Easy MilesMarathon Pace MilesThreshold MilesVO2 Max MilesTrainer 1 MilesTrainer 2 MilesRacer MilesTotal Distance
0.000.000.000.000.000.000.000.00

Well I finally made it to Belgium. The Atlanta flight was delayed almost 4 hours as well... Also due to rain. Then I ended up in a middle seat but someone switched with me. Even with the aisle and no real sleep last night I was not really able to sleep for more than 15 minutes at a time before I woke up and tried to shift around. In any case I survived and arrived exhausted but in one piece. I made it to the meeting just in time for lunch and was still able to make the afternoon sessions. A number of really good talks.

Night Sleep Time: 2.00Nap Time: 0.00Total Sleep Time: 2.00Weight: 0.00
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Easy MilesMarathon Pace MilesThreshold MilesVO2 Max MilesTrainer 1 MilesTrainer 2 MilesRacer MilesTotal Distance
0.000.000.000.000.000.000.000.00

Finally got sleep but still no running. Up at 7am for breakfast and then meetings solid from 8am until 3:30pm. That was followed by a group  tour and some sightseeing. My talk and poster presentations were both today and they both went very well. This is definitely one of the most relevant and useful meetings I attend. After dinner I caught up with an old friend who is now faculty in Germany and we closed two bars with his students. By 3am I finally made it to my room which was a perfect time to Skype home before hitting the pillow.

Night Sleep Time: 7.00Nap Time: 0.00Total Sleep Time: 7.00Weight: 0.00
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Easy MilesMarathon Pace MilesThreshold MilesVO2 Max MilesTrainer 1 MilesTrainer 2 MilesRacer MilesTotal Distance
10.500.000.000.000.000.000.0010.50

Ouch. Had to be up at 7am so the 4am bedtime was a little tough. Then more meetings from 8am until about 1pm. Overall it was a very good meeting with a number of spectacular presentations. More importantly I was able to get my face out there and also make a number of connections. A couple that I think may lead to additional job interviews... After the meeting was completely over I ate lunch and took a nap. Then I went and ran around the grounds of the Chateau de la Hulpe (http://chateaudelahulpe.wallonie.be/apps/spip/). It has actually rained on and off the entire time here and though the weather behaved itself for me the humidity was a definite shock to the system. The trails are amazing and I saw a number of ravens, horses, water fowl, really large snails, rabbits and even a pheasant.

Avg. 7:41 HR 154

Saucony Rides #6 Miles: 10.50
Night Sleep Time: 3.00Nap Time: 2.00Total Sleep Time: 5.00Weight: 0.00
Comments(3)
Easy MilesMarathon Pace MilesThreshold MilesVO2 Max MilesTrainer 1 MilesTrainer 2 MilesRacer MilesTotal Distance
9.000.000.000.000.000.000.009.00

I hit the trails again. It was very nice. I even saw two hawks a huge slug and a deer. 

Avg. 9:18 HR 136

Saucony Rides #6 Miles: 9.00
Night Sleep Time: 5.00Nap Time: 0.00Total Sleep Time: 5.00Weight: 0.00
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Easy MilesMarathon Pace MilesThreshold MilesVO2 Max MilesTrainer 1 MilesTrainer 2 MilesRacer MilesTotal Distance
0.000.000.000.000.000.000.000.00

Travel day

Night Sleep Time: 0.00Nap Time: 0.00Total Sleep Time: 0.00Weight: 0.00
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Easy MilesMarathon Pace MilesThreshold MilesVO2 Max MilesTrainer 1 MilesTrainer 2 MilesRacer MilesTotal Distance
0.000.000.000.000.000.000.000.00

Back home but exhausted...

Night Sleep Time: 0.00Nap Time: 0.00Total Sleep Time: 0.00Weight: 0.00
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Easy MilesMarathon Pace MilesThreshold MilesVO2 Max MilesTrainer 1 MilesTrainer 2 MilesRacer MilesTotal Distance
10.000.000.000.000.000.000.0010.00

Family run in Park City. We drove up to the Rail Trail and had a bit of fun. We saw a deer, a number of ground squirrels and butterflies. 

Avg. 9:50 HR 129

Brooks Launch #1 Miles: 10.00
Night Sleep Time: 8.00Nap Time: 0.00Total Sleep Time: 8.00Weight: 0.00
Comments(1)
Easy MilesMarathon Pace MilesThreshold MilesVO2 Max MilesTrainer 1 MilesTrainer 2 MilesRacer MilesTotal Distance
6.000.000.000.000.000.000.006.00

Yes I am still alive and still getting in some runs... Just came back from Belgium to a number of deadlines. I have both a grant update and manuscript resubmission due this Friday. Good news is I just finished the update and only have one "quick" experiment to complete tomorrow. Bad news is that I'm still in lab. Good news is that I was able to take a run break with a friend in lab to Memory Grove. This is all being typed on Wed...

On Sunday (today) I just had time for a home loop.

Avg. 6:54 HR 158

Asics DS-Trainer #5 Miles: 6.00
Night Sleep Time: 8.00Nap Time: 0.00Total Sleep Time: 8.00Weight: 0.00
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Easy MilesMarathon Pace MilesThreshold MilesVO2 Max MilesTrainer 1 MilesTrainer 2 MilesRacer MilesTotal Distance
0.000.000.000.000.000.000.000.00

Work work and more work

Night Sleep Time: 5.00Nap Time: 0.00Total Sleep Time: 5.00Weight: 0.00
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Easy MilesMarathon Pace MilesThreshold MilesVO2 Max MilesTrainer 1 MilesTrainer 2 MilesRacer MilesTotal Distance
2.500.000.000.000.000.000.002.50

More work but things are moving in the right direction.

Commute run.

Avg. 9:33 HR 138

RM 090416 Miles: 0.25Brooks Launch #1 Miles: 2.50
Night Sleep Time: 5.00Nap Time: 0.00Total Sleep Time: 5.00Weight: 0.00
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Easy MilesMarathon Pace MilesThreshold MilesVO2 Max MilesTrainer 1 MilesTrainer 2 MilesRacer MilesTotal Distance
7.000.000.000.000.000.000.007.00

See Sunday's entry. Today was a very productive day but very long. I did get my dinner/bedtime break with the family and a run break with a friend. 

Memory Grove work loop.

Avg. 7:36 HR 151

Saucony Rides #6 Miles: 7.00
Night Sleep Time: 6.00Nap Time: 0.00Total Sleep Time: 6.00Weight: 0.00
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Easy MilesMarathon Pace MilesThreshold MilesVO2 Max MilesTrainer 1 MilesTrainer 2 MilesRacer MilesTotal Distance
2.500.000.000.000.000.000.002.50

When it rains it pours. The good news is it is raining gold. However, even too much of a good thing can be bad. But for now I'll ride the wave and enjoy all the positive outcomes while I have them.

Zombie Commute Run

Avg. 10:07

Saucony Rides #6 Miles: 2.50
Night Sleep Time: 4.00Nap Time: 0.00Total Sleep Time: 4.00Weight: 0.00
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Easy MilesMarathon Pace MilesThreshold MilesVO2 Max MilesTrainer 1 MilesTrainer 2 MilesRacer MilesTotal Distance
123.5013.000.000.000.000.000.00136.50
Saucony Rides #6 Miles: 58.00Saucony Rides #7 Miles: 23.50RM 090416 Miles: 1.30Brooks Launch #1 Miles: 19.50Adidas Adistar (flats) #2 Miles: 19.00Asics DS-Trainer #4 Miles: 8.00Asics DS-Trainer #5 Miles: 8.50
Night Sleep Time: 139.00Nap Time: 2.00Total Sleep Time: 141.00Weight: 0.00
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