Trying to improve my running

Another run up Wade.

Ran w/ the Thornydale group. There was a decent hill in the middle.

Easy miles getting ready for the marathon.

Short easy run before flight for marathon.

Well I was able to run the SGM. I am pretty happy with my time. I did forget my watch with the early morning and didn't realize it until i was almost to the start. My wife woke up before the race started and noticed the watch so she had my dad bring it to me at about mile 7 (Veyo). Unfortunately I got there a little bit before he did. So I ran about 3/4 a mile out fo the way to get the watch. With that little detour i was still able to finish in under 3:30 which was a goal. My silent goal was to aveage 7:30/mile pace (3:16:30). Mainly though I wanted to run this and just see how fast I could do it since I hadn't run a road marathon since I started running. I do kind of wish that I wouldn't have ahd that little hiccup to see how fast I really could have gone. I will have to do this race again to see how fast I can go. I think if I were to train solely for the marathon I would be able to qualify for Boston.

After the marathon I went up to SLC for 2 weeks. I spent the first week at snowbird and after the great running there this summer I was really looking forward to the mountain. It was different this time. It didn't get light until I had to be at work any days during the week and it was cold, and icy. This run was really icy. I went really slow after the marathon and didn't go up the mountain really.

Wasn't able to get out yesterday because I over slept and then didn't get back from work until 2230. Today I wanted to go up the mountain but I forgot it was so dark and forgot to bring a headlight when i left the room. So just ran on pavement after tripping 2 times in the first 200 yds on the trail.

Finally got on the trails. It was nice but not enough time to go very far with work. It was also dark for the whole run, but it felt good to run on the trail some.

Didn't have to go in to work as early so I was able to get some more time on the trails. Even did the single track trail for a ways it was still pretty dark towards the end it was twilight. 

Didn't have to go to work this morning so I was able to go further. I would have like to go to the top of the mountain but unfortunately we had to pack up and go today. I started out on the mountain bike trail by the tram and went up by the mountain coaster. I then did the trail covering the last couple of miles of Speedgoat. Then I went up the road at the first of the speegoat course. i started down the single track trail but noticed they were starting to make a new trail so i went exploring. the trail ended a short way up so I bush whacked up to dick bass hwy and then went to the top of the chair lift and found another newly created trail. I went down that and got close to where the first trail stopped. Maybe they will meet up next summer. I then went back down the single track trail. It was such a beautiful day and so pretty with all the colors up there. I wish I could have done this all week. Oh well today was great.

Staying in Farmington this week. I went running up to farmington canyon and then across the Firebreak road. It had rained overnight and the trail was just slightly damp (great running conditions). I love being here it is so easy to get vertical here. This didn't feel steep at all and I got 600 vert. I really have to plan a trip to do that in Tucson.

I thought I would try some speedwork today. I was going to do 12x600 at 2:40. I wasn't quite ready for this unfortunately I was only able to complete 6 of them mostly d/t time. My splits weren't as fast as I wanted either: 2:48, 2:43, 2:47, 2:31, 2;47, and 2:41. 

Ran to farmington pond and then back on Lagoon trail nice run again so easy to get vert. I felt like this was pretty flat but I got 250 vert.

Went to try the 3 mile 1 min fast/1 min less fast workout. I pooped out pretty quickly. Looking back on the splits i guess they weren't so bad but they were 15-30 seconds slower than usual. It took me 22 minutes and the fast average was 6:52 the less fast average was 7:45. The less fast was teh particularly slow portion.

Ran up to and down the firebreak road. only had time for a few miles this morning.

Ran up to flag rock this morning. Beautiful run. It is amazing how fast you can gain altitude here. it would be great to train up here. I am going to miss running in the mountains.

I ran around the block with my daughter when I got home.

Just as i was getting ready to leave for this run the baby woke up and wasn't going back to bed. I took her with me It was a nice easy run.

Ran with the grinders. We did 2 sets of 4x1000m my goal was 4:25. My splits were 4:24, 4:31, 4:22, 4;27, 4:20, 4:25, 4:17, 4:23. I felt pretty good afterwards.

Rode my bike home after working 24hours yesterday. I got to say it felt really good until the last 15 minutes. My back started hurting I think I might have been carrying too much in my backpack. It is downhill going home and there was a tailwind so I felt really fast. MY average speed was 17.6 mph.

After i got home I wanted to run so i went out for 4 miles. I felt remarkably good. at first my legs felt a little weird. I just kept going and when I looked down at my watch at about 0.5 miles I was at 7:30 pace. Not sure how i was going so fast maybe my legs were just used to going faster than usual. AP 7:27

Did the 3 mile 1 fast/1less fast workout. Felt much better than last week. I think the altitude, and having others to do it with contributed to this. My Average pace was 6:51 Fast pace: 6:32. Less Fast Pace: 7:09.

Ran slow miles with Sean nice sunrise.

Workout w/ the Grinders. We did 2 sets of 5x300m hill sprints followed by 1.55M tempo. I was supposed to do the Hills at 75s and the Tempo was 6:55 pace. I was pretty much able to hold to that for the first set. The second set i did well on the hills but the tempo run I was about 10 seconds slow and had to cut out the last 0.55 miles because I was going to be late for work. Splits were: Hills 74, 76, 75, 74, 76 Tempo: 10:57 (6:56). 2nd Set: 74, 76, 75, 76, 76 Tempo: 7:08 for 1 mile.

I ran on the trail by my house this morning since I didn't have to go to work early and could go in daylight. Felt really good to be abck on the trails. After i got done with that run I walked the kide to school and then went running for a couple more miles w/ Juli.

Grinders workout: did 1 mile then 4x400 meters than 1 mile shooting for 6:45, 1:35 and 6:45 for times. My times were: 6:34.3, 1:37.1, 1:35.3, 1:37.0, 1:36.8, and 6:36.1.

Did only a couple of miles running before biking to work this morning.

The bike ride was harder then the last time. Tucson has a weird phenomenon in the morning the widn blows down the santa cruz river from the south then switchs to blow up the river from the north in the afternoon. This would be great if I was riding the exact opposite route. Unfortunately it gave me a head wind into work as well as coming home. I also had to wear bad shoes because of lack of space in my bag. Comsequently I was 2mph slower overall and 11 min slower getting to work and 5 minutes slower getting home (despite it being ~2miles less). 

Did the 3 mile 1 fast/1less fast workout. This week did turn arounds at each mile I think that slowed me down some. Most the people only did 2 miles also so the last mile was hard to keep motivated. My Average pace was 6:52 Fast pace: 6:35. Less Fast Pace: 7:12. Not much slower than last week. Time was 20:29.3