A Balance, Redefined

I was planning a family run with the nice weather today but Sandra understandably wasn’t up for that yet. So after Kaitlyn went down for the night I headed out. I wanted to run on the BST but the trail was so bad. It took me 9:43 to get across the mouth of the canyon over all the snow and ice. So I looped down back west and stair-stepped back to the marathon course picking it up around mile 9.5 back home. Avg. 7:41 HR 143

PM run. Meant to do a double today but the snow changed my plans. Shoveled and got into work by 6:30am. Went home a little early to shovel again. Good upper body work today. Then went for my run a little before 6:30pm. I forgot to charge my Garmin so I was "free" today. SH loops and random streets.

AM-5:45am "death march" slowest run in awhile. The good news is I got about 7 hours of sleep last night so I managed to get up at 5am. Still took me about twice as long as usual to get out the door but moving in the right direction. Started from lab to City Creek and back. Just north of the JCC I saw three deer run across the street in front of me. Then when I got to the cemetery the clouds thinned to let the full moon shine throw, very surreal. As far as the run went I never got my legs moving. I just didn’t feel any turnover. This was probably because my legs were frozen, according to the NOAA the temp was 3F. The pace was fine though as the run was just for mileage anyway. Avg. 9:03 HR 138

PM-7:00pm treadmill workout. I did 1-mile wu (8:00) then four miles just under pace (5:52). At the start it felt harder than I would have liked but then I got into a rhythm. I kept my heart rate in the low to mid 160s.

In work by 5:30am. Had a long day, didn't get my first breather until 2:00pm. Then went for my run at 3:30pm. My new "work favorite" to City Creek up 1.5 miles and back. I felt good. It was nice running outside in the sunlight even though it was a 10F windchill. I kept the pace "honest" but never really pushed hard. I did surge the uphills and the last mile or so to get an even pace for the whole run. Avg. 7:00 HR 158

AM-6:00am Morning jaunt around campus. I’ve been here for well over a year and I can still count on my fingers how many times I’ve been on lower campus. I got into lab a little after 5:30am, set a few things up, and then headed out the door. I thought about doing the City Creek run again but wanted to mix it up. The inversion was in full affect today and that was a bit of a downer. Other than that I just looped in and out of the buildings of lower campus then headed south on 15^th for awhile and back. Avg. 8:12 HR 140

PM-7:30pm Toward SH and then random blocks. Long day, only 6hrs of sleep last night and then 11hrs of work today. However, I do feel good. Avg. 7:40 HR 137

Not too much sleep last night. Only about 6hrs (again) then a 10hr day at work. I envy the professional athlete, to have time to focus solely on running. It amazes me the mileage some of you fellow bloggers get with families of 3 and 4 kids on top of your jobs… All that being said I think I’m holding up pretty well. I’m only going to go about 10mpw higher in total mileage and not for another 3-4 weeks but it is definitely tough on only 6-7 hrs of sleep per night. The good news is as of now I’m still finding time to get in my 60hrs per week of work, the mileage, and maintain family time.

So far this season has been about the mileage and it will continue to be that way until after the April marathon. I want to see what I can run on a solid base and work in some faster, shorter intervals for the subsequent marathon. Tomorrow I will test my speed at the SLCTC 5K but with the lead in my legs I’m more curious than having any plans. I think I’ll just try to hang on for dear life to the faster guys and see how long I can last.

On a separate note I called in my first order to the St. George Running Center and the service was great. The shipping was minimal and I got my shoes and accessories within 24hrs!

Oh yeah. I did run tonight, 5mi on the treadmill 8, 7:30, and then 6:58s…

I actually got over 7hrs of sleep last night! It was nice that the race didn’t start until 10am. I was very nervous about the race today. My legs felt heavy in the morning, the mileage this week was higher again and I was tired. When I got to the race Sasha, Ted, and Steve were there. Sasha gave me my team jacket and I went to get my number. I had a brisk 4 mile warm-up (Avg. 6:59 HR174) with three 50m pickups, each ending at about 5:20 pace. I finished this warm-up with James. During this time I planned that I would like to try and average 5:20 for the race with my main goal of doing anything under 17. I told this to Ted and he more or less seemed on board. There were some fast guys there I knew and a few I didn’t. In addition to the team members BJ was there and ended up winning. People lined up by mile one more or less how they finished. I felt like I was holding back a little during this time but hit the mile right on pace in 5:20. After the 180° turnaround I noticed that Albert (A Wasatch Athletics runner I’ve done a few workouts with) ahead of me was slowing a little and a second guy I didn’t know as well. I wanted to try and catch both. For mile two I slowed a little to 5:25. At this point I started to reel in Albert. With about a half to quarter mile to go I finally caught him but I couldn’t catch the other guy. The third mile was in 5:28. It felt much harder than the first mile but I should have put in a little more. Ended up finishing 6^th in a 16:53 by the Garmin for 3.13 with an Avg. of 5:23 HR 185. Overall I am very happy with the performance. I ran my 8^th fastest 5K ever and felt very strong doing so. I’m sure I have more in me and look forward to my upcoming races. I did an immediate 3 mi cooldown, half with my neighbor Mike and half with the team. Then after a little chatting with everyone I did another 4 mi cooldown on my own before heading into work. It was nice getting to talk with many of the team members. I haven’t had a chance to run with many of them more than once or twice in the past and it is good to get to know them face-to-face. For the cooldowns Avg. 7:52 HR 146