A Balance, Redefined

AM-10am Feeling a little out of it today, mentally not physically. Just ran on the treadmill while I watched Kaitlyn play. Pace 8:00.

AM-6:30am easy miles. I woke up at my “back to normal” 5am. Looked outside and decided I was not shoveling twice today so I just went into work. Set up a couple of experiments and got them incubating then headed out the door at 6:30am. Did my now usual City Creek run to a quarter mile past the 2-mile mark and back. The roads were slippery in spots and just plain sloppy in other spots but it was somewhat runable. I actually saw 6 other people on my way out including Josh Steffen whom I hadn’t seen in a few months. He looked like he was going at a very nice clip considering the surface conditions. However, I didn’t see a single other person on my way back… The weather really brought out the wildlife. Just before entering the canyon I saw a fox cross the road about 50m in front of me. Then just after the 1-mile mark I saw a herd of ~12 Elk. At first I was confused what those huge deer were doing and when I got closer I realized they were Elk, I’m not used to seeing those. Then almost exactly a mile further up I saw another herd of ~12 Elk. This time closer to the road. It was funny I was busy watching them on my left and I heard a twig snap to my right looked over and there were two of them standing there about 10ft from me. They took off in the other direction and my heart jumped a bit. They are fairly large and their antlers are a sight to see that close. Then finally on my way out of the canyon I saw a small group of ~4 deer. Overall, a relaxed easy run. My left glut was a little tight but otherwise I felt fine. 12mi Avg. 8:19 HR 133

PM-7:15pm easy miles. The day started out the right way but went downhill from there, all work related. After Kaitlyn went down for the night I had to get out for a few extra miles. Just a SH loop. 5 mi Avg. 7:54 HR 148

AM-5:45am easy miles. I'm keeping with the idea of SLOW and STEADY this week. I'm feeling the increased mileage now and don't want to over do it by stresses myself in too many other ways. It was crazy cold this morning, single digits straight temp. There wasn't too much wind which was nice but when there was my nose tingled. I did a very slightly different run this morning and ran down into Memory Grove up to the State Capital and down the otherside of the canyon before heading back to lab. 11 mi Avg. 8:31 HR 149

PM-7:30pm guess what? more easy miles... Just picking them up and putting them down. SH loop. 5 mi Avg. 7:50 HR 131 

One run today. Easy with some MP work mixed throughout. Started a little later this morning closer to 6am. It was another Wild America run. As early as a half mile in a saw some deer. I think this is their home because I always see them there, just behind the JCC there is normally 2-4 deer. Then a cool deer experience in front of the Shriner’s Hospital. There were two deer right on the sidewalk. When I passed one just stood there and watched me while the other pranced along the sidewalk even with me in the street until I turned at the stop sign. By about two miles it started snowing, just that little pellet snow. However the wildest animals I saw were after about 3.75 miles. I saw a Chad, Josh, and his wife (I don’t know why I’m so horrible with names). They were heading out of City Creek as I was heading in. I didn’t even recognize them until Chad called out. Then again at almost the same spot as the other day I saw two Elk at 1.5mi from the gate. On the way out I saw a single deer on the north face of the canyon and the three deer at the start of the run were still behind the JCC at the end. I think I see so many animals for a bunch of reasons. 1. They come out while snowing. 2. They are out early. 3. They are often in the same places and once I see one I pay extra attention in those areas. 4. I’m usually running alone and enjoy looking for them. Anyway enough about Wild America on to the run.

My plan was for 5 miles at MP mixed throughout the run. At first the snow wasn’t too bad and the pacing was going well. MP1 5:54 MP2 6:07 MP3 5:53. However, by the time I was coming down City Creek the snow had already accumulated to about ½ inch and was getting slippery so I decided to forgo all 5 miles and only got in one more MP4 6:10. Overall I was happy with the run. My wife had given me a massage last night and my legs were feeling the freshest they had all week.

12mi Avg. 7:46 HR 147

One run today, medium miles. My nose was a little stuffed when I went to bed last night and as my daughter was a little under the weather earlier this week I decided it would be best to get a full 8hrs of sleep. It is amazing what ~25% more sleep will do for you. I ended up getting into work a little after 7am and after a couple experiments and a meeting went out for my run at 11am. It was perfect timing as it was snowing at the time. Good news is it stopped by mile 2 and didn’t really accumulate on the roads. I did the State Capital version of my City Creek run. Going into Memory Grove I saw a couple of the Black Sheep but no wild animals today… My gluts are still a little sore/tight but after an encore massage from Sandra last night it was not too bad. Avg. 7:25 HR 149

I think I’m going crazy. Whenever I think I have a schedule set I go and change it. I think the important thing for me to remember with my training is that I do what my body tells me not what I type or say… Less than an hour after posting a response to Training with limited time/sleep  by Michelle I decided to change what I said and sleep an extra hour anyway. Then I went into work and worked first, not running until 11am. I did the same 6-miler as last Friday but this time with one mile HARD. For the hard mile I chose the aided mile (from the Firehouse to the Overlook with a 212ft descent). For that mile I only thought “faster than 5K pace” and didn’t look at my Garmin until the end, 5:03.46 HR 177. This is my fastest mile in … Overall, it felt good and I’m looking forward to the 10K tomorrow. Total 6 mi Avg. 7:12 HR 150

Today was a great running day. I went into the race ambitious and more or less lived up to my expectations. It is the most confident I’ve felt running in, I can’t remember how long. The training is finally paying off. Consistent easy high mileage…

I was treated to a third massage this week by Sandra and it really did the trick. Yesterday’s speedy mile also helped boost the confidence level and pain threshold. I went into the race wanting to try and maintain 5:30 pace. About the same group was there again (minus Ted, I sure hope he is soon 100% again). I did a two mile warmup with Sasha and Steve and one mile on my own. For the race I ran the first two miles with Albert. We were shooting to NOT go faster than 5:30 pace and we succeeded, 5:39. During the second mile I felt like he was going to pull away and that he was pushing the pace but we barely broke 5:30, 5:29. After that I picked up the pace and he fell back a little, but by the next marker I had actually slowed again 5:37. After the turnaround I really wanted to catch the two guys ahead of me. One of them was a Running Advantage guy that I didn’t catch in the 5K and the other was a guy in gray. So I bore down and passed them both, 5:27. The next mile I was feeling on fire and only slowed a little 5:32. The final mile I could feel the wheels starting to come off so luckily it was the last, 5:34. The final 0.24 was in 1:14. Overall, I finished 5^th in a 34:33.53 for 6.24 miles at 5:32 pace with a HR of 183. After the race I immediately changed into my warm-ups and trainers and reran the course plus an extra little to round off the mileage. I am very happy with today and only have minor aches and pains to show for it. I looked back and this is my 4^th fastest 10K ever. I had two track races my senior year in college faster and my Des 10K time last year. So this was my fastest non-aided 10K in almost 8-yrs!!! I am VERY happy with it. It did play a toll on my body as the rest of the day I had stomach problems. I shook stuff loose running that fast… I was able to spend the afternoon with my family but am sitting at work typing this up now. Hopefully I’ll get home at a decent time to get some good sleep. Overall, today makes me that much more hungry for the team relay in Phoenix the end of the month and my marathon in April…