A Balance, Redefined

AM: 1.5 mi from the hotel to Grants Trail and then an out-n-back to the trail head. It was a good run and I even saw a deer.

8 mi Avg. 8:38 HR 128

PM: Random roads with Dennis. It has been over 6 yr since I ran with my college roommate and teammate. Way too long... It was great catching up over even this short run.

4.5 mi

Today was a special day. I got together with the two people I have run more miles with each than any other 10 combined. Dennis the groom later today and John another friend and teammate from college. On top of it we drove out to Forest Park to do our run. We only had time for one loop but it was a great run. Very strange being there again. I was doing the math and I have done over 1000 loops of that park. I have also run close to 5000 miles with Dennis but I have not done a loop of that park or a run with either of these guys in 6 yr. Such a surreal experience. 

Avg. 7:33

Well reality had to sink back in. The wedding went off without a hitch and had a bunch of fun dancing. Not extremely late because the girls where with us but being part of the bridal party and the party bus after the ceremony made for a very fun evening. Slept in a little and had breakfast with the bridal party and some family and back to Salt Lake. After dinner and unpacking did the same Suicide Loop as I did before leaving for the trip.

Avg. 8:42 HR 128

Well the weekend did catch up to me. I felt tired today. Managed to be fairly productive during the day but my legs were flat tonight. Did the downtown loop up 13th East.

Avg. 8:37 HR 131

Today was my early day for work. But I slept through my alarm. I guess I was more tired than I thought. I still made it in early but about 1hr late so it was a rushed morning. Only time for the commute run.

Avg. 9:13 HR 144

I can definitely tell that the school year has started again. I had one meeting and three seminars to go to. I skipped one of the seminars so that I could have a few hours to get some "real work" done. I think I am in denial that next weekend is the marathon. The half went well a couple weeks ago but since then has just been go-go-go on everything but running. I'm still concerned about this lack of consistent base and any real workouts. Next weekend will be about fun and getting one under the belt to get momentum for a spring marathon is what I think. A&W commute run. 

Avg. 8:51 HR 149

I long night sleep and feeling better. Also, both girls are now in school so I worked from home last night and this morning and did a late AM run with Sandra before getting dropped off at work. It was a nice run and the weather was perfect. SugarHouse loop.

Avg. 8:23 HR 140

Today was all about family. I was still feeling sluggish from the half marathon and then the travel last weekend. Not sure if it is a work stress level thing or what. But I have to admit for one week before a marathon my head is not in it. I hope to take Kory’s advice and just have it as a necessary distraction so that I can go into the marathon rested. Anyway, here is the race report.

We woke up extra early for the girls and all four of us headed to the capital for the final race of the Racing with Passion 5K series. This is a well run race and it is obvious that the race director (Stephanie) cares a lot about doing everything in her power to improve the races and make them each better than the last. As far as that goes, I completely missed the first race and only Sandra ran the second race. It is still a small race series but with the great organization and goodies a must do and I hope it continues to grow.

The plan this morning going into the race was to stay by Sandra’s side and help her improve upon last race’s finish. This was on the same course and in the previous race she finished 2^nd overall and 1^st in the stroller division. This time she wanted to finish first in both. Since there is a certificate prize for both men’s and women’s stroller division I also pushed a girl.

There were a few other strollers at the start and two that looked like they could be trouble for Sandra. I just stayed glued to her side and we enjoyed the run. Both girls behaved for their rides. I spent the first mile talking with them to keep them entertained and giving Sandra encouragement. One of the other strollers stayed right on top of us and I was getting a little concerned. But it was another guy so I told Sandra I would just stay with her unless he tried to take the lead.

The course is a fun one. It starts up/down Gravity Hill then up the far side of Memory Grove to go into a 180 degree turn and then 1.5 mi of downhill.

The first part was all into a pretty strong headwind and when we finally turned to have it on our backs it was to go uphill. The good thing about the turn is that we could see all the other runners coming back down and we found out Sandra was in the lead of the women’s race. Even pushing a stroller!!! We really started to pick it up on the way back down into Memory Grove but the other stroller was still there. As we entered the Grove he started to pull up alongside and I asked Sandra if I could go and she said yes. I knew she had her win and I didn’t want to jeopardize my stroller win J… So at 2.2 mi into the race I let the hammer fall and took off.

To the other guys credit he went with me for about 200 m before falling off. It was great as my daughter said “daddy you are finally running!” I ended up passing a few more runners on this stretch. I wonder what it would have been to run all out from the beginning, but racing was not the plan today, just family fun.

The splits went as follows:

8:09 HR 161 Ascent 121ft Descent 28ft

7:12 HR 166 Ascent 67ft Descent 77ft

5:31 HR 174 Ascent 37ft Descent 204ft

0:36 HR 185 (Pace 4:40)

TOTAL: 21:27 HR 167

I did meet the winner and he seemed like a nice guy. I encouraged him to join the blog so please welcome him, Flo.

After the awards ceremony and some nice goodies we headed to a birthday party, then to the gelato place in the avenues our friends from church just purchased. A must go for great gelato and coffee the place is Dolcetti Avenues. You should all go! Then we ended up going to the Avenues Street Fair and some playing in a sprinkler in the backyard. All and all we were moving from 6:30am to 6:30pm a very full and fun day.

Slept in, waffles with the girls, church, and then working from home. After a pizza dinner and putting the girls down did a SugarHouse plus loop and then back to lab to get ready for the week. Kind of the opposite of yesterday but a relaxing day none-the-less.

Avg. 7:49 HR 140

AM: Welcome to another week. When I hit Foothill and 20th I noticed about 6 guys come ahead of me moving at a nice clip. I decided to catch them. It took me all the way till Sunnyside, with some help from the light. They were the Westminster CC team. I ran with them until Cappechi Dr when I had to turn up to campus. Most the team didn't acknowledge my presence but the guy in the back was chatty and it was a nice way to break up the commute run in. 

2.5 Mi Avg. 8:07 HR 153

PM: Today was a blur. Each time I looked up at the clock another hour had slipped through the hour glass. Time can sure be a funny thing. Commute run home.

2.5 Mi Avg. 8:06 HR 128

AM: Today was my early day in. Yeah circadian rhythm!!! As the final taper, this week will probably just be commute runs. I hit a bit lower than I had planned last week but with everything else that was going on I'm not too worried about that. I am still struggling with what to go out at on Saturday. I would like to take up Ben's offer and go out at the 2:40 pace. But something is telling me that this marathon might not be the one to try and PR... 

2.5 Mi Avg. 9:24 HR 136

PM: A long day, working into a long night. 11 hr at work home for 2 hr and then back to it. But I'm about done. It is great living so close to work but also sometimes bad because it is too easy to come back and get trapped :)...

2.5 Mi Avg. 7:02 HR 148

Single run today. Did a modified mid-campus commute run in. Seeing the bib numbers  really made the fact that I'm running a marathon in three days sink in... Have to keep telling myself I've done this before and though my training was not ideal I'm going to the line with some good races under my belt for the year.

Avg. 9:08 HR 129

Planned rest day. Way back when I was following Hal Higdon's training I would have two days prior as a complete rest day. Just massaged out the legs with the roller and tried to rest a little extra. Work has been making that interesting but in an overall positive way so that should be ok. Tomorrow is travel and a shake-out on the track and then RACE!!!

Run with Cody in Logan to shakeout the legs. 

Avg. 7:37

Chapter 11

Back, again…

Year recap (brief)

It has been awhile, three years in fact. It is amazing, frightening, sad, etc. how quickly time can slip through your fingers. I think the hourglass is truly the best timepiece. A lot has happened between TOU ’09 and TOU ’12. I am still in UT although that was up in the air for a while and not sure what is next at this point but I have a good option on the table. Sandra and I finally found time to enjoy the state we live in and took a camping trip to southern UT and a number of other day trips to closer sites. She has also taken to running and in many ways has surpassed me in her dedication to the sport, even bringing strength training back into the house!

So here is the story of my ’12 marathon, number eleven on my list. As is my usual tradition, marathon race reports are a time of reflection for me on my year in running and life in general. The biggest news from the running standpoint is that I’m doing it again. In 2010 and 2011 combined I only had 9 weeks of 50 miles or more. This year alone I have 13 weeks above 50 miles with 5 weeks above 70. I even started the year with a PR in the 5K. Now this is a ridiculously aided course but still I’m 34 now and I was running about ½ the mileage of what I was running when I set the previous record. The year continued to go well with my 4^th fastest half marathon in August. At one point I thought a marathon PR was possible but doubts did creep in from time-to-time. I was heading up to Logan again to once more attempt TOU. It is a great course and well-organized race.

Pre-race

            First and foremost I have to thank Cody and his family for opening their house and kitchen to my family. After school on Friday we loaded up in the car and headed up to Logan. It was a nice drive and when we arrived we drove the portion of the racecourse Sandra and the girls were going to cheer me on the next day. After packet pickup we headed to Cody’s and his family was in the front yard ready to meet us. The girls loved playing with his kids and we had a wonderful carbo-loading pasta dinner and salad. After the kids went down for dinner Cody went with me for a 3-mile shakeout run along the Planet Walk trail. Logan has sure been kind to me and between Cody and Scott it has been great to stay with bloggers pre-race. After some more nice conversation I did my prerace routine and got some sleep, restful with only one wake-up. No morning star. Cody was kind enough to wakeup early to bring me up to the race start. I sat next to “Mike” someone running his 32^nd marathon with two Wasatch 100s under his belt. It made for some good conversation. After getting off the bus I ran into another Knox alum at the start. This was funny, but was because I was wearing my Knox ski hat. At the start I tried for that star but still no go. So it was off to the start area and deciding what to do. This was very difficult. I had made the mistake of mentioning 2:40 out loud before really examining my training fully. Although it may have been possible I think the way it played out was the best. I had good conversation with a number of people including Albert, Allie, Jake, James, Ben, and a number of others. I eyed Ben and his group aiming for the 2:40 and Allie shooting for 2:50 and decided to try and stay between these two groups. This was a last minute decision but I stand by it and I hope you will see that it worked out for the best.

The Race

            The weather was perfect for a marathon, cold but not unbearable. I was dressed properly after my experience at the half. Thanks to Andrea for suggesting the sock sleeves, that really did the final trick. I was wearing my compression socks, shorts, jersey, sock sleeves, gloves, and a headband. The start felt so smooth and between the group, the downhill, the taper in my legs, it felt so effortless to run 6ish pace. It took effort to stay back but I did. The first mile was side-by-side with Allie. Also, Will (a person that passed and beat me late in the TOU1/2 three weeks earlier) pulled up and said hi. We spoke for a bit and decided to run together. We gradually caught up with James’ group and ran together for the next two miles. Could see Ben upfront and hear Allie just back so right were I wanted to be. But the bathroom was calling and I decided to stop. The mistake I made was to rush out of the port-a-pottie and gun back up to James, Will, Kevin, etc. Even with the bathroom break that mile was still 6:16 so I was cruising. Luckily that didn’t kill me but I’m sure put a dent in my tank. The next 5 miles were so relaxing. I just stayed with the pack we had and watching Cynthia the lead woman. Then at mile 12, bathroom called again. Very upsetting but made the stop. This time I was not going to gun it back up and took nearly three miles to catch backup. At mile 14 is the first place you can really have spectators and my three girls were waiting there for me. It was great to see their smiling faces and get a Gu and water. Cody was also there and rode along with me for a little giving me some updates on the race. It was helpful. After that decided to finally make it to Will and what was left of the pack. I did this and continued on with them. These two miles were quick. When we pulled out onto Main Street we were hauling. Scott came up to run with us some but we were moving… Just before turning off Main Street my three girls were there again and after a little dancing to the music set-up there I got another Gu and water. I tried to keep with the pack as long as I could but after this turn I started to fall back. The next miles are some of the hardest in the race but I stayed strong. This was MUCH MUCH better than I had felt during miles 21 and 22 in this race back in ’09. Back on Main Street and a few zig-zags. Saw the girls two more times before the finish. Was VERY happy to see that I had sub-2:45 in the bag. Official time is 2:44:44, 12^th overall, and 2^nd age group. I finally got a bigger moose! Thank you to TOU for putting on a top notch race.

Post-race

            More chatting with bloggers, soak in the stream, massage, and back to Cody’s for a shower. Then we headed one more time to the park for the awards ceremony. Congrats to a number of bloggers, especially Jake for his overall win! Hit the road with a McDonald’s stop and to a birthday party. Crashed hard after dinner and just enough energy to get this entry out. My reflection on the race at this time is very positive. Even with the 2:40 mentioned I always had the 2:45 in mind for this my first race back. My printout for my splits was 2:40, 2:45, and 2:50 so I more or less nailed my predicted. But more importantly than that I ran it in a controlled fashion and actually enjoyed the last portion. I look forward to my next marathon and hopefully getting a good 4-6 months of solid mileage in for it instead of 4-6 weeks… Thank you to everyone who supported me during this training cycle and were there with me on the course today in body or spirit.

NERDY STUFF

Numbers, numbers, and more numbers. First, this was the 14^th TOU Marathon. My number was 14. So the race number the moose on the medal is wearing is number 14. That was great. Also, comes the pressure of wanting to finish at or below the number. So the 12^th place finish was also very nice. ]My Garmin output is below. As is my comparison of the course tool splits and my previous TOU splits.

One of the most exciting parts is the difference between the first 13 miles and the last 13 miles. A whopping 49 seconds!

First 13 1:20:40 Second 13 1:21:29

On to the splits, only 8 were slower than target pace and of those 4 were within 10 seconds.

More numbers are posted on Monday for post-race reflection.

 Split comparison

 Garmin info

My legs hurt. But nothing unpredicted. Spent a fun family day. Pancakes with the girls, church, another birthday party, and dinner out. John ended up following up on my "bluff" to go for a run so I said yes. We just did a SugarHouse loop.

Avg. 8:50 HR 137

Surprisingly my legs are not too bad. For at least my last four marathons I have taken the subsequent 2 days to a week completely off. This is mostly because after those previous marathons I couldn't walk down stairs much less run. This time around I must have done something right because I don't fell like I need the days off. Now don't get me wrong, my legs are sore, especially my calves. However, it feels better to run a little on them than just let it go. I have iced my legs twice now and wore my compression socks all day today. Got a bunch done at work and then a commute run home. A pretty good Monday.

I have read comments and some other reports but am holding off until Wednesday to comment to save my inbox :) An early thank you to those who have put such kind comments so far.

Avg. 8:35 HR 127

More post-race reflection. It turns out that Saturday was my 3rd fastest marathon. This was with 30% less mileage than my 2008 PR and about 1/10th of the formal speed work (Andrea I'll give you that the 5K TT are real workouts). So overall I am even happier with this marathon the more I think about it. 

Of my previous 10 marathons I only had 18 wk of healthy training for 6 of them so this brings that total to 7.

Here's more of those "nerdy" numbers... :)

Just thinking about what next... Trying to stay focused and keep the balance. The post-race period is always interesting. So much build-up for only a few hours. Commute run in.

Avg. 9:36 HR 147

Evening Suicide Loop with John. The air is so horrible again. At least it was nice for Saturday. I just hope it cleans up again soon... I felt tired today but again this is more mileage than I've ever done the week post marathon. Just plugging away at work and trying to stay sane with the running.

Avg. 9:18 HR 136

Commute run into work. Back there again now... With the race out of the way I have a bit of catch-up to accomplish. Still struggling with what the next marathon will be. I have tossed around the idea about Ogden and Cody was kind enough to send me some info on it. My main thing is to get it on the calendar no matter how far out.

Avg. 9:55 HR 143

Happy Friday. It was cool this morning, wish I would have had my gloves during the first mile. Obviously still recovering from the race but this air is just not helping. They claim it is a yellow day, down from red most of this week but I think today was the hardest day breathing. One cool thing on the run in is that a herd of maybe 8 deer crossed the street in front of me on Guardsman Way in front of the field house. There is a bit of construction and they were obviously spooked. Mid-campus commute run in.

Avg. 9:29 HR 142

Busy day. Early AM house chores then work until PM picnic with our church group that we were hosting. Then late night run with John. Suicide loop. Saw a wild porcupine on the run!

Avg. 8:43 HR 131

Other than church, worked all day. No time for a run...

AM: Very late night at work and early morning... Commute run in. 

2.5 mi Avg. 10:10 HR 127

PM: Long day at work 5:30am to 4:30pm... But I also got a lot done despite some "blow ups" with a few different things. On my way out saw Jake and stopped to talk to him and the girls always have a blast with Jake sightings. Then after bedtime went for a South Temple loop with John.

7 mi Avg. 8:25 HR 134

A bit more sleep last night but still recovering from Sunday. It was nice to run in the rain this morning the temperature was perfect for it. Wish I could have gone longer. A&W commute run. 

Avg. 8:37 HR 143

AM: Work, work, work. In early again, twice this week. Normally I get away with just one really early day lately. It is good just busy. Commute run in.

Mi 2.5 Avg. 9:45 HR 150

PM: Commute home for dinner with family and then back to lab. Definitely the longest work day I've had in a while.

Mi 2.5 Avg. 7:13 HR 139

You'd think those HR would be reversed but that is what the Garmin says...

AM: A&W commute run. Hopefully today will not be has crazy as yesterday at work. I am canceling one meeting to try and free up a little time. This career (as I am sure is the case with many) comes it waves and right now seems to be a crest. Although I have to admit there had been a comfortable trough for a little bit. 

Mi 6 Avg. 8:13 HR 158

PM: Suicide loop with John. Not as busy of a day as yesterday but I managed to get more accomplished.

Mi 7 Avg. 8:31 HR 131

Day off for family and work obligations. 

This morning was maybe a little ambitious. Meaning it was a little early after the marathon and I had a lot on my plate this week. All that being said this race is hosted by a friend and I was looking forward to running it. My grandparents are in town and all six of us headed to the start. There was a 1K kids fun run prior to the race and both girls enjoyed it. Then it was time to warm-up for the 5K. During the warm-up I ran into Thomas, a new post-doc at The U from Germany. I had met him two weeks earlier and new he was a triathlete and could tell most likely a good runner specifically. The race started with him, myself, and both our wives in the lead. I had about 10 ft on him and we headed up the hill behind the zoo. He was more or less right on me for the first mile. We went through at a good pace 5:13 and a slowed a little to let him along slide. The next mile we were more or less neck and neck. I slowed a bit too much and never really made a move. The second mile was 6:05. Turns out instead of fixing the run from last year and adding on a block, they took off one so it was way off. Thomas made his move and I failed to respond I just didn't have it today. I was not able to defend my title and the course was way short. It was fun all the same and then moved on to a day of family fun. My left foot was actually sore after the race. I'm thinking this speed may have been too soon after the marathon. I'm happy I did it but wish I would have had more of a fighting spirit in the racing department. Next time...

Finished off a great visit with my grandparents then dropped stuff off at lab to prepare for the week ahead. Overall, the weekend was very relaxing and it was good to visit with them. We had a lot of good food and fun. I then did an evening run from lab for the Memory Grove loop. 

Avg. 8:02 HR 144