Trying to improve my running

What a great race we did this as a whole family it was so fun to do the activity all as a family this was a personal record for me in the 5k at least since I was 20 years old. I think back in high school I was running 5k in sub 20 min. I don't remember the exact time though. I did run 1 at 19 years old at 21 minutes. That was my goal for this run but I wasn't quite able to make it. I was super happy with this time though. It wa pretty great to finish in 10th as well.

After I finished I jogged back to the family and ran up with the kids to help them finish they were able to finish in 45 minutes it is so great to be able to be active as a family.

nice run up Wade road small hill. 8:32/mile AP.

Slept in and ran at lunch. It was a good stress relief in the middle of the day and it was much warmer. AP 7:58/mile

Nice morning run just before sunrise. It is getting warmer again which makes it more enjoyable. I was just taking it easy the 2 downhill miles were faster than 8 min/mile. AP: 8:17/mile.

Did a kind of 2 a day run today. I ran to the church and helped clean it then ran most of the way back home until my wife picked me up. The first leg of the run I ran with my neighbor we went at a decent pace nothing too fast felt really good. I guess it was kind of uphill, however I didn't feel like we were going uphill. On the run home I went by myself because his wife came and picked him up. I felt like I had been gone too long and my foot was tightening up. by the she got to me I only had 1.5 miles left so it ended up being just over 11 miles together ~6.5 out (8:32/mile AP) and ~5 back (8:25/mile AP).

Garmin track for the first part: http://connect.garmin.com/activity/258375661

Garmin track for the 2nd part: (I did this with the Garmin Iphone app I think it did great) http://connect.garmin.com/activity/258375661

ran while at work. trying to get 4.5/day for the week. AP: 8:25.

Another run while at work. I was more tired today. I started to get energy towards the end of the run but was paged and stopped. 8:30/mile AP.

Ran in the middle of the night again. similar to previous night. unfortunately I lost my radiation badge on the run. So I guess I will be running the same route tonight to look for it or else I am out $30. AP 8:24/mile.

another night run at work. I had to follow the same route as the prior night to look for my radiation badge (didn't find it). I felt more fatigued today than on prior runs consequentally took it a little slower. AP 8:37/mile.

ran at work. only did 4 miles because of fatigue. AP 8:43/mile.

Did a kind of 2 a day run again. The first one was while on call overnight 3.5 miles. I did it pretty slow because of the long week and also fatigue of the foot. It was pretty cold 30 degrees. AP: 8:34/mile.

The second run I did the first part with the kids about 0.6 miles then did 4 miles part of which was on the trail. I did a coup,e of decent hills. I need to start focusing more on hills. AP: 9:07/mile.

ran up beacon hill for the first time in several months. It was super steep (15% grade with the steepest portion at 20%). I think this should be great anaerobic training for the upcoming 50k. I will have to start doing it at least weekly and hopefully I can get to a point I can start doing multiple reps up the hill. 

Ran up wade road to pick my son up from preschool today. I felt really good and was able to push one of the uphill miles to an 8:00 mile. the downhill miles were faster than 8 min miles. It was really cold this morning (20 degrees) glad I was able to do it later in the day (40 degrees). Hopefully it warms up here soon. AP 8:02/mile. 

I almost didn't get out today. I was super tired worked until midnight (and baby was up when I got home until 1 am). Set the alarm for 5:45 so I could run before work because I wasn't going to be able to run after. When the alarm went off I immediately told myself I would not go running because I was too tired,  it was too cold and I was feeling more sick. I tried to go back to sleep but couldn't I finally just went and did the run. Felt good after it was over though it was pretty hard for the first 1.5 miles. I guess that my body is just used to running everyday now. I think that is a good thing. I feel so much better during the day if I run in the morning. My streak of running everyday but sunday since Thanksgiving is still preserved.

It finally warmed back up. I guess it was only a week of freezing temps, but it felt like a long time. I ran up to the top of wasson peak for the first time of the year. I forgot to eat breakfast and I think that caused some fatigue prior towards the end of the climb to the peak. It felt great to be back on the trail though. No foot or knee pain. It was super windy on the ridge lost my hat a couple of times. 

http://connect.garmin.com/activity/263070977 

Ran in the afternoon today. It was 70 degrees I felt like it was too hot. This is not a good sign it is too hot and too cold to run in the same week. I hate climate change. The run went well. I was going to go with my son while he rode his bike. Unfortunately, after 0.5 miles he ran into my ankle and crashed. So I took him back to the park to hang with the wife and kids and did the rest of 4 miles by myself. My AP for the run was 8:26/mile. I think it would have been closer to 8 min if it hadn't been for the crash because we went pretty slow after that until I dropped him off. So the first mile was 9:22.

 Oh yeah I forgot after I got back to the park. I raised my son home. Him on his bike and me pushing the kids in the stroller. We went pretty quick (6:00/mile pace) up the little hill by the house. Then he (and I) tired out and he asked me to walk so I jogged slower then he snuck up and beat me home.

My body is wearing out from being on nights for 2 weeks. Today was the hardest day to get out. My cold was worse and I couldn't even talk this morning.  I did not feel better at anytime during the run. I'm not sure if I would have if I kept going I only had time for the 3.5 miles though. It may not have gotten better and I may have needed the rest. This week only managed to get in 26 miles, probably because of the cold and the night shift.

Ran up wade rd. I was able to get one of the uphill miles (with a fairly step hill) done in 8:04/mile. The downhill miles were sub 8 min as always. The cold is limiting me from pushing too hard. AP: 8:04.

Up wade road again. It is kind of my lame attempt at hills since I can't breath very well. slow miles this morning and only time for 3+. AP: 8:25.

First run in my new Kinvara's they felt great. Still having breathing difficulties dry heaved a couple of times on the run. Otherwise, felt pretty good. Hopefully the cold is going away. AP: 8:09.

only time for 4.5 miles this morning felt pretty good had to stop once to dry heave. the cough is getting much better. Same route as all week. I like that this has a little hill on it. I have mostly been able to keep my pace around 8/mile up the hill. AP: 8:11/mile.

Couple of quick miles in the post ran morning. That is my favorite time to run after it has rained the air feels so good. AP: 8:08

Ran with Chase today. He did really well until I decided to push ahead for a little bit. I guess I went a lot faster than him. He got scared when I got back he was with a lady by her mailbox. He was ok I felt bad for losing him. He wasn't in any real danger we were only a couple of blocks from our house. We went slow the rest of the way home. AP: 8:33

Just did 4 miles this morning. It was a perfect morning to run. The moon was full and it was pretty warm ran for about half of it on a dirt road. Can't wait to get back to the trails. AP: 8:26

Did 3 recovery miles. I tried to focus on my heart rate and keeping it less than 150. My pace was 8:46/mile

Felt slow this morning slow starting and the uphill miles were pretty slow. Oh well at least I got in 5 miles. Same route as Monday just a little longer. AP: 8:24.

Did as little bit on the trail today. It was super dark and made the trail pretty slow. towards the end it lightened up some. I didn't like the shoes on the trail very much hopefully they will get more comfortable as I break them in more.

Ran the route up wade road again. This is becoming my standard route. I went way a little further today to make it 6 miles. The downhill miles were all faster than 8 min/mile. AP 8:04/mile.

Last month I had the goal to run 110 miles (10% more than December). I ran 130. This next month I have the goal of going up about 10% again. So if I increase 10%/week the miles will add up to ~165. 10% more than 130 is 143. I think I will make my goal in the middle at 150 as it is a short month and I have a race at the end of it.

wanted to do 10 miles today. I was going to make them all trail miles up and back on Wasson peak. I did an extra mile loop at the start to add some miles but ran out of time to get an extra mile loop on the end to get to 10 miles. I did a mile slow later with the kids. was able to accomplish the wasson peak run in 1:46 which was a pretty good time given the extra mile.

Nice quick morning run up wade road, it was nice to have some extra time. AP: 8:01.

Did another 3.1 in the evening. it was deliberately and gratefully at a slower pace. AP: 8:33. My legs were more tired than I realized from the morning run. It makes a big difference if I give myself the whoel 24 hours to rest.

Wade road route again today. I was tired from the runs yesterday. the first mile while I was getting warmed up felt super tight and the pace was 9 min/mile. after that I loosened up and the rest though harder than on prior days went pretty smoothly and the pace for the last 3.5 miles was 8:12/mile, which is only slightly slower than my usual for that course.

The watch died today so not sure of the time but the run felt pretty good I think i ran for ~40 minutes. afterwards checked in on the map to get the distance.

Only time for 4 miles this morning. I did the wade road route. AP: 8:14 the downhill mile was faster than 8 min/mile

Morning run AP: 8:20

I did a 10 mile jog this morning. I did it around the neighborhood. I wanted to get out on trails but my wife didn't want me to be gone all day. I ran up Wade road which has several pretty healthy hills. it felt pretty good I did start to tire out at the end. That might have had more to do with having to loop around the neighborhood to get myself to 10 miles. AP: 8:18.

 I did another 1/2 mile in the evening with the kids trying to get them into runnign my oldest is starting to do pretty good. 

Didn't have to work until this afternoon today so I was able to go on a longer run today. I did the same route up wade road as on Saturday but just missed the last hill and I also didn't loop aroudn to get up to 10 miles. I felt much faster since I had a day to rest prior to this run. the only miles that were slower than 8 min/mile pace was the first and the one with the steepest uphill (169 vert). The splits were: 8:01, 7:51, 7:58, 8:36, 7:23, 7:31, 7:55 and 3:29. AP: 7:56.

I had some hip/lower back spasms last night so I thought I should take this one easy and go fewer miles. AP: 8:57

Back/R hip still bothering me. took it slow again today nice and flat as well. AP: 8:54

I was able to get out for a longer run today. unfortunately it was divided into a 3.75 mile trail run and a run on the roads pushing My daughter in the jogger. It felt really pretty good still took it slow because of the back. However, it didn't hurt at all during or after the run.

Ran up wade with a route through a neighborhood. Only had 40 minutes to run today. I did these miles quicker AP: 8:00. This week I was hoping to get 140 miles. The sore hip/back and work schedule has limited my miles. Hopefully I can get a good long run in tomorrow and get close to the 40.

I went running in the afternoon today with the kids. They rode their bikes while I ran. they did really good. unfortunately after about only 1 mile they felt they were done. We went back home and I dropped them off. I then continued running and did 8 more miles. The first mile was pretty slow trying to stay close to the kids. AP: 8:19.

 Did another 3 miles at work in the middle of the night.  

did 2 runs while at work last night to get the miles I wanted. I can't be gone for too long so I had to break it up (4 and 2). It is hard running in the middle of the night. I feel so much slower. AP: 8:22 and 8:33.

did acouple of runs at work again. They were closer to 3 miles each because of a page interrupting the first run. I was so tired I almost talked myself out of going tonight. Glad I went though I felt better for a short time after. AP: 8:22.

Did a couple of runs at work overnight again. the first one was 5.4 miles it was nice not to get paged for that long. Finished out another short one to get over 6 miles. It was a super night for running. I think my body is adjusting to the night shift. just about time to change back again. AP: 8:15

The first run tonight at work was faster than 8 min/mile. I think that the difference was the music. I usually listen to an audiobook but I listened to a fairly faced paced music track. I did pull my gastroc on the 2nd run of the night. I think I will go slower tomorrow. AP: 7:53 and 8:09.

My last night of night shift. I started the run out and got less than a mile before I got paged. I went back and cleaned upt he list and then went back out and went til I got to 6 miles. It was a pretty good run. AP: 8:22.

long run for the week I was going to do more than just 9 miles I was unfortunately too tired to do more though. The miles felt really pretty good after I got warmed up. I ran up a road that has a nice gradual slope I was pretty happy that I was able to keep my pace under 9/mile for each mile. The downhill miles were faster than 8/mile. AP: 8:17/mile.

5 miles in the cold this morning. I ran up wade road. AP: 8:07

Wade road route. AP: 8:06

a couple of easy miles this morning to finish out the month and get ready for the race this weekend. I was a little bored in the middle so I did a couple of tempo sections. I just made the decision in the middle of the run so I wasn't going for a certain number or speed really just picking up the pace until the next corner. It turned out the first one was 0.21 and AP was 6:31. The second was 0.36 and AP was 6:40. 

Did some sprints in the middle of this run just to shake things up a bit. Splits for first 0.5 mile was 7:12, the 2nd was 7:24

This was a great run the day before the relay with my brother. We were taking it pretty easy but ended up doing a descent hill. The trail was great.

This was a fun race. It was a 5 person team 50 mile relay. Our family put together 2 teams. The team I was on only had 4 runners. My brother and I ran 3 of the legs and my sister and Jessie (My brother's friend) both ran 2 legs. We named our team Run for your life. So we dressed as zombie hunters and counted each team we passed as a kill. 

My first Leg was Leg 2: It was a 5 mile leg on the road with several decent hills. My goal was to have a 7:30/mile pace average. I finished the 5.22 miles in 39:17 for an average pace of 7:31/mile.  I was able to get 5 kills on this leg.

For my next run I did 2 legs back to back. leg 8 & 9: Leg 8 had a long gradual hill at the first. I was able to get up that without too much trouble.  I was trying to take it a little slower so I would have enough left to finish the end of the course because of the upcoming hills. I was doing this by keeping my heart rate at less than 160. The course was pretty flat for the next couple of miles and I was able to go fairly quick (8:25/mile) and catch 7 people. Just at the end of leg 8 there was a pretty steep hill (11% grade) it was less than a quarter of a mile and I was almost able to catch another 2 people right there unfortunately the back site was downhill and then was the exchange and another steeper and longer hill (just over 0.25 miles and 11% grade) so they exchanged with fresh legs and I lost ground on them from then on. I thought those were the only hills on this run when I was planning on it but the course just continued to gain elevation gradually (another 290 vert over the last 4 miles) and I wasn't ready for it. I was pretty happy that I was able to continue running through the whole course my average pace for these legs turned out to be 8:53 (my goal was 8:30).

I'm glad I did this race it was more of a stretch for me than I thought it would be with the extra leg and having the hardest leg on the course. I hope I can get ready for the speedgoat now since the elevation on this was nothing spectacular. 

Pretty stiff today for my run. I didn't think I would be that stiff after only 14 miles I guess the extra effort to go fast really adds to the lactic acid production. AP: 8:45.

Hit the trail this morning. It felt really good the muscles were still stiff though a little less so than yesterday. I am going to need to doa  lot of trail work this month if I am going to get to my vertical feet goal (12,000). I felt pretty good about my pace on the trail (9:42).

I didn't have much time this morning because I slept in. I wanted to do some vertical so I drove to the trail close by my house. I only did 2 miles but was able to get 320 feet of vert.

First missed day of running excepting Sunday's since Thanksgiving. I guess i have kind of turned this week into a rest week following the race.

First run was up Beacon hill (only 2 miles). I was kind of amazed at how well I was able to get up this hill. I wasn't very fast but was able to get all the way up the hill without stopping. The steepest part of the hill is 20.2% grade over a quarter mile.

The second run was in the middle of the night while I was at work. I did 3.8 miles AP: 8:31. I was just taking it slow.

This run felt surprisingly good, given that I only slept for 2 hours since Friday morning(with 2 runs in the interim) prior to this run on Saturday afternoon. I really wanted to run up Wasson peak to get some vertical as well as some trail work. The first mile of this run is a gradual up hill. I felt like it was nothing. The next mile is mostly made up of semi-steep switchbacks. most times I have needed to walk at least 1/4 of this portion. today I was able to run the whole thing with only a short rest at the saddle. I then was able to run most of the rest including over half of the steep switchbacks at the end to get to the summit. It was so much more than I have been able to do prior to this. I then tried to push the downhill as much as i could to strengthen the quads for the speedgoat. I felt like the whole trip was the easiest trip up to the summit I have had. Comparing this to my prior runs up the mountain after it was over it turns out it was my fastest run by 20 seconds however since this was a little longer run it turned out to be 13 sec/mile faster. It was a lot faster than my most recent runs here.

Slept in again and only had time for a short trail run this morning.

Early morning summit of Wasson peak, beautiful sunrise. The uphill felt harder and slower than Saturday, but I pushed the downhill harder and ended up with faster overall time. AP 11:41. 

 Below is the comparison between Tuesday and Saturday.

Took a day off the trails and went up wade road. AP 8:12.

Ran up Beacon hill again. I need to get up earlier. I wanted to do the hill a couple of times. Unfortunately I didn't have time. I was again able to run the whole hill, which is very encouraging. I feel like this hill is as steeper as the steepest parts of snowbird unfortunately much shorter.

Just went up Wade road this AM. AP: 8:11.

This is my third time up wasson peak this week. I felt like this time was going to be slower I didn't have much energy when I started. As I kept going ingot more energy. I did rest a minute or so longer at the saddle and at the top. I did try to push the downhill as much as possible and ey were all less than 10 min/mile. I was kind of surprised that the uphills were as fast as the previous times as well as faster than any prior trip as well. My AP was the fastest I have ever had as well. AP: 11:34. Below is the comparison with the runs from the past week as well as the run from right before the Moab trail half marathon.

I have wanted to do this run for about 6 months. This was the first time I have been able to get enough time to do the run. Mt Wrightson is the highest peak you can see from Tucson. The trail I took starts at 5400 ft. The summit is at 9453. 

Here is a view of the peak (the highest peak to the left of the picture.) Jospehine Saddle is in the middle of the picture.

With how well the run up Wasson peak had been going this week. I thought this wouldn't be too bad. It was double the vertical feet and at almost double the elevation. I guess that had a big effect this was a ton harder than the wasson peak trail. I was able to run most of the way (only walking the more technical parts) up to Josephine saddle which was ~1700 vert over 2.4 miles (average 13% grade). I rested at the saddle took some pics and chatted with some other hikers. After this the trail seemed to get really steep. Looking at the numbers it was a little steeper 1620 vert over 1.7 miles to get to Baldy saddle (average 18% grade). I had multiple moments on that trek that I could really feel the altitude and was only able to run about 30% of that leg. The last leg was from the saddle to the summit. It didn't seem as steep, however the altitude, technical nature of the trail and the wear from the rest of the trail I was only able to run about about 50% of this there was a decent amount of snow up there. the views from the top were fantastic and made the run worth it.

This is the view from the top looking back towards Tucson. 

I felt pretty good at the top after a short rest and thought I was ready to really crank out the downhill. The first part was pretty technical and icy so I couldn't go very fast. After Baldy saddle I tried to go faster and by the time I got to Josephine saddle my legs were really feeling it. I thought I would take a little longer trail down from there and before I got to the bottom i was wishing I wouldn't have my legs were so tired. I think it is going to be key to get used to going up and downhills after having already done pretty steep hills if Iam going to be able to survive the speedgoat. I think if I could do this run 2 times in a row I will be as close to ready as I can get for speedgoat.

Recovery run up Wade road. AP: 8:24

Did a trail run today on the trail by the house. I still feel pretty tired from Mount Wrightson.

I did a run up Beacon hill today. This run may fit into the category of I planned this run and decided to do it despite not feeling up to it when I woke up this morning. It is hard to tell if those feelings are being lazy or are my body telling me to slow down. I erred on the side of lazy today and went and did the run. I was really tired I wasn't able to make it all the way up the hill the first time without a short break halfway. I had wanted to do at least 2 laps up the hill so I went up again and had to stop 3 times in less than a mile. I need to get my climbing legs in better shape. i guess the only way to do that is to do these climbs.

Normal run up wade road AP: 8:00.

I was going to run up Wasson peak today, but last night I decided to look at putting together a training schedule for the upcoming 50K and realized I was less than 20 weeks away. I felt like I needed to do something longer than 10 miles and my wife didn't want me to be gone too long so I decided not to do those miles on the trails. After making that decision and probably a mile or so into the run I decided to see how fast I could do a half marathon since the only one I have ever run was the Moab trail half. I must admit I didn't push this overly hard but tried to keep and 8:00 pace. I did great at that for the first 7 miles. At that point I went up Beacon hill (over 300 feet of vert in less than a mile 20% grade). This obviously slowed me down for the next mile but took more out of me than I thought and I could only manage to hold about 8:30 pace. I felt pretty good about the overall effort though. my time was 1:53:08. I think I could have done better at a real race, without the hill in the middle I would have been around 8:00-8:15 the whole way.

This was a fartlek run, which I did up Wade road. I did 20 sec at 6:30 pace every mile. My legs were kind of tired at the start and before the end they were exhausted. I am going to have to do something easier tomorrow. AP: 8:10.

Ran slow on the local trail to get hopefully some recovery. AP: 9:08.

1st run: run up beacon hill. I did the hill 2 times. It felt better than last week. I did have to stop 2 times on the second trip up. I could have finished but I would have to walk a lot. I did about a mile warm up and a mile cool down as well to get some extra miles. 4.6 miles

2nd run: after work did 3.1 miles slow and flat to get some more miles. AP: 8:15

Just a standard Wade road run. went almost to the top of the saddle before I ran out of time and had to turn around. AP: 8:05.

Ran up Wasson peak before work. I love this run. It felt so good this morning. I wasn't able to make it to the top but I did get about all the vertical out of it and made it to the final ridgeline (about 0.5 miles short of the peak) before I ran out of time. This is great run to do at sunrise so pretty. My AP was about the same as the last time I ran it. Subjectively it felt a little easier today. AP: 11:37.

Busy day today so I only had time for 6 miles up wade road before work and other activities. hopefully I can get in some stairs at work to get some more work on vert. I am almost to 20,000 for the month. AP: 8:05

 I was able to find time to go up the stairs at work 2x while on call. It is 8 flights of stairs I figure about 200 vert as there is 12 ft per flight. It was pretty tiring. I should try that more often. 

Fartlek run up Wade road. I did 20-25 sec sprints 11 times my pace was about 6:00 - 6:30/mile for the sprints. A couple of the downhill sections the split was even sub 6 min. I felt pretty good it is nice having a day of rest. AP: 7:45.

Ran up beacon hill. I wanted to do a couple of trips. Unfortunately I ran out of time. I was able to do 1.5 laps up the hill. It seemed easier than last week. I did have to stop 2x on the 2nd trip.

Went up Wasson peak this morning I love running this at sunrise it is so pretty. I felt really good today. I did the run pretty fast. I was able to do the first part of the switchbacks a 2nd time after coming down. The switchbacks are getting easier. AP: 11:32.

Slow long run today. I only had time to dot he run on roads. I went up wade road at first that is where I got all of my vert int he first 4 miles. I tried to focus on keeping my HR down and not focusing on the time too much. The first couple miles had a high HR it always does I'm not sure if that is the strap trying to figure my body out or my heart just waking up. After that my Average HR was 150 or less, until the end when I realized I needed to hurry abit if I was going to make it home to take my daughter to school. AP: 8:19

Ran on the trail by my house. It was a nice easy trail run. AP: 9:25

I wanted to do 15 mountain miles today. I was going to go down to Mount Wirghtson to get some altitude as well. Unfortunately I didn't have that much time with family and church responsibilities. I opted to do a couple of trips up Wasson peak. Instead of just going up and down the same trail 2 times I took some different trails. It was fun the other trail up to the ridge is steeper than the one I usually take. I think it has the same vert but gains it all at once instead of having semiflat sections in the middle. That was a really hard mile. I think it was more difficult also because I did it after having already gone up one time. I am going to need to do that section more often though. It is much more rocky though and not as nice a trail. It was a beautiful morning spent in the desert. It is starting to get hot. I ran out of water towards the end. I also saw the first snake of the season.Time 2:45:36 AP 12:07.

Beautiful sunrise run up Wasson peak.Time 1:27:12 AP 11:27. A little windy o/w beautiful morning. I love spring and fall in the desert.

Ran up wade road. It is hard to get up early enough to get in 10 miles or more. My goal was to do 11 miles. I had watch issues which took some time. Nice run after I got started. AP8:10.

2.5 laps up beacon hill. It is hard to get motivated to start this run. However, it feels great once I get to the top of the hill.

Did 6 miles at about 10k pace. Two of the miles were uphill so they were just over 8:00/mile. However I guarantee I was putting in significant effort (ave HR 160s). The downhill miles (4) were much faster AP 7:24. I did 2 warm up miles. Then after walking my daughter to school I did another 3 miles slow AP 8:40.

First run: I wasn't able to do my long run on Saturday as my baby was born. That put me behind my mileage plan for the month. It was really weird I got this pain in my foot on Saturday even though I didn't go running. I decided it might be a flair of gout. I've never had gout before but the pain was right at my 1st mtp. Hopefully this won't become a problem. The first run was slow because I was pushing my toddler in the stroller in the wind. AP 8:40.

2nd run: ran with my neighbor which also made this run slow. I thing it was good for the toe pain. AP: 8:57.

Ran up wade road again. I felt pretty good. I did the last 5 miles at either 8 min pace or 7:45 pace depending if it was uphill or downhill. AP 8:13.

Did 2.5 laps up beacon hill. It felt really hard today. Maybe because of all the miles earlier this week.

Ran on the trail by my house for a couple of loops this morning. Nice morning for a trail run. AP 9:31.

Ran up wade road. AP 8:05.

Had to break the run up today because of my sons tball. I ran up Wasson peak for sunrise. Nice run. I did feel a little more tired than usual. I haven't been sleeping as well with the new baby. The time was still about the same as it has been recently. AP 11:32. Distance 7.8.

The 2nd run was in the heat of the day (only 85), the heat really seemed to sap the energy. I'm going to have to get used to the heat or else no sleep. After the run I felt pretty nauseas. I was worried I was coming down with the same thing my family all had. It passed after sleeping though so I'm not sure now. It might have just been exhaustion with dehydration. I did this run on roads. Distance 9.2 AP 8:27.

AM: did a run up wade road. I did the first 3 miles slow. Then did the last ~3 miles 1 min <7 min/mile pace and 1 min slow. I ended up doing 12 sprint minutes. My average pace for the fast minutes was 6:44. PM: couple of easy trail miles. It was dark adding a level of difficulty.AP 9:16.

Only able to get one lap up beacon hill today. Work and family are taking time. My foot was hurting quite a bit last night as well.

A little over 10 miles up wade road. My watch died after only a mile this is the second time this has happened despite it saying I had a ~70% charge when I started the run. AP: 8:10.

Nice slow run on the local trail. It felt really good to be on the trail. I think next month I am going to try and do more than half of my runs on the trail. The new shoes feel really good as well. AP: 9:12.

Slow run up Wade road. AP: 8:12

Road run today because I didn't have time to do a long trail run today. I tried to push the last 30 minutes the pace for the last couple miles 7:57, 8:28 and 8:27. My hr was at 150 for those last couple of miles. I guess that is kind of a moderate pace for me especially after having done 13 miles. Total time 2:07:17. AP 8:20.

Ran on the local trail today. Went further up sombrero than usual. I forgot how crummy that trail is to run on. If I could learn to run quick on that without spraining an ankle I would be awesome. AP: 10:43

3.5 laps up beacon hill. I was pretty tired on the last trip up and had to walk a good portion of it.

Ran up sombrero saddle again. I felt really good going up. I felt like I could run the whole way except for the terrain is so rocky. I went up sombrero about 200 vertical feet above the saddle.

Another wade road run. Felt pretty good. AP: 8:19 I pushed 1 uphill mile to 8 min pace and several downhill miles faster than 8/mile.

Local trail run. Didn't go all the way up sombrero saddle. AP: 9:42

This was a great run up Wasson peak. I felt really good and my time was my personal best by at least several minutes. I was also able to run up the whole way. Every lap was faster than my usual. It was a really encouraging run. AP: 11:03.

Went up Wasson peak again. A little slower than Saturday but still able to run essentially the whole way. AP 11:18.

Ran up sombrero saddle this morning and the along the trail for a while. It was a beautiful morning tons of animals out saw a herd of deer and javelinas right on the trail. I am getting upset with my watch. This is the 4-5 time it has stopped working right after going out the door when it says it has a good charge left when I start. I don't want to put up the money for a new one but I may have to. Any ideas on a good one to get? I like having my info on the Garmin connect site.

4 laps up beacon hill.

Did a time trial 10k this morning. I wanted to get a PR my old record was 49:48. I was aiming for 45 minutes. I was able to get 45:57. I did the run up wade road and the uphill miles were a little slower though all of them were under 8/mile. I chose this because I really like that route and I knew the last couple of miles would be downhill and help when I was tired. My splits were: 7:22, 7:29, 7:45, 7:35, 7:04, 7:20 and 6:43. I think I may have gone out a little too fast the first half mile was sub 7 min pace. Mile 3 was uphill with just over 100 ft of vert.

Ran on the trail by my house. I went pretty slow. I was sore from yesterday's time trial.

Did a run up Wasson peak today. I wanted to get more distance and more vert so I added an extra trail to the run. I would have gone further but I had to quit to get back to my sons tball game. Beautiful sunrise run the only drawback is the trail I took to the top of the mountain today had the sun glareing in my eyes for a good portion of the run. Glad I had the sunglasses. This trail to the peak has a significantly more steep section and I had to walk some up that. Time: 1:48:48. AP: 11:35

Ran on the trail by my house. AP 10:07.

This was a fartlek run in the neighborhood. I did ~30 sec at 7min/mile every 3 minutes. AP of the sprints was 6:30. slwoest 30 sec lap was 7:17 and fastest was 5:22. It felt really good.

4 laps up beacon hill. I felt better than I did last week. Even with the 20 miles I have already done this week. That is encouraging. I was able to run all the way up on the 1st and 3rd laps and walked some on the other 2.

Ladder interval run. The plan was 2 mile warmup then 1 min, 2 min, 3 min, 2 min, 1 min, 2 min, and 3 min with 1 min Active recovery between. Followed by 2 min cool down. I ended up adding in an extra 1 min, 2 min, and 3 min at the end. Plus some extra miles at the end. I was going for paces of 6:30, 7:00 and 7:30 for the 1 min, 2 min and 3 min sprints. my splits ended up being: 6;44,6:58, 7:25, 6:52, 6:43, 7:00, 7:18, 6:56, 6:45 and 7:28. I did get a couple of extra trail miles at the end.

http://connect.garmin.com/activity/313506238

This run was on this great new trail. It is really well groomed not very many rocks and beautiful scenery. It is a pretty flat trail. It feels like you are all alone in the desert on the trail though. Saw a pack of javelinas. I was able to cruise pretty quickly on this trail as well. I had 3 miles at or below 8/mile and 1 at 8:04.

Slow run before work with my neighbor. Wish I had had time for more.

Humbled today. I don't know why but the run this morning really kicked my but. I have done this run (Wasson peak) over a dozen times and had been getting faster and faster and feeling really good about it. Today though. I was about 10 minutes slower than my recent runs and felt tired through the whole thing even coming downhill was really hard. Oh we'll I guess I couldn't continue to get faster every run. Time: 1:31:18 AP: 11:58

Local trail run. I had a lot of chest pain at the first of the run. I think it was GI in origin (I had heartburn last night). It really made the first mile super slow I felt like I couldn't even stand up straight. I loosened up after a mile or so. I still didn't feel great for the whole run. AP: 10:11.

Ran up Wasson peak again today. The first mile was pretty painful, but I felt better after that. I was still slower than I had been a couple of weeks ago. I was even a bit slower than on Monday. Unfortunately I fell with about a half mile left to run. I was able to get back up pretty quickly but had to hobble through the last bit. After the run was done everything really hurt. This is the first time I have fallen in almost a year. I better not make this a more regular thing. AP 11:46. Time: 1:32:59

After getting hurt yesterday. I didn't think I was up to going to far. I just did some slow trail miles on the trail by the house. I still had the same problem I had earlier with weird chest pain at the start of the run that went away in the first half mile or so. Not sure what that is about it has happened twice this week. My body was super stiff from the fall yesterday, which surely wasn't helping. slow miles AP: 10:00.

Another trail run by the house. the week continues to be a really hard week. I don't know what is wrong hopefully it is just being tired. AP: 10:21.

1st run: This run was the worst run of the week. I did this while at work. I was so tired. It was so hard tog et started. I was having chest pain at the start and also feeling really short of breath. I felt so bad I hooked myself up to the POx machine at work my HR was in the 40's the POx was 100%. I started to worry about my having a heart block or some kind of problem causing me to be in this funk. I was only able to do 3.11 miles and the AP was 9:41

2nd run: So after stewing on the terrible run all  the rest of the night and during the day when I couldn't sleep I ran again at work on Saturday night. I had some difficulty starting just like all week. I had some chest pain it did seem to get better a little quicker than prior. my ave HR for the first mile was 170. after that it seemed to slow down to normal 140's and best of all I felt fairly normal if a little tired. my time was better I went for 4 miles w/ an AP: of 8:49 still slow but at least not too frightening. I may try and get an EKG or see a Dr if this doesn't get better.

Did a couple runs while on call over sunday night. felt a lot better than the previous nights. Maybe it was just being too tired. the first night I had worked for 24 hours straight and got next to no sleep. These runs seemed more normal first was 4.15 and AP 8:34. 2nd was 2.25 and AP 8:34.

Another run while on call overnight. Still hard but getting easier. I think it is just exhaustion that was the problem earlier. AP 8:27. I also did a couple of laps up the stairs at the hospital 8 flights of stairs about 110 feet.

Another call run at work. I was able to get one of the miles under 8 min. not really trying for speed. I had thought I would do speed work this week since I can't do trails at work. I'm lucky I've gone running at all. Not much motivation this week. glad to see that my times are closer to normal though. hopefully next week will be better. Still will be a busy week as I have to work swing shift and it is hot in the day in AZ so we will see how the running goes. I also did 3 laps up the stairs last night. AP 8:15.

Did a couple of runs while on call. I felt fairly good. the first was 6.07 miles the second ran was 2.24 miles. 1 of the miles was less than 8 min/mile. AP: 8:20. 

Call run. Last night

Did the local trail this morning. It would have been nice to get more miles in, but I was just too tired after all week of nights. Did this run w/ my neighbor nice and slow. It is getting warm in Arizona. AP: 9:23.

Ran up to sombrero saddle and then past up sombrero peak to get some extra vert. most of the way past the saddle was hiking today. I felt like it was so hot. I guess summer is here. I really don't like this trail it has way too many rocks and even when i can run it is really slow because of the rocks and loose gravel. fell once coming down.

Local trail again. Didn't feel quite as hot.

11 miles up wade road. It is pretty hot here Garmin said it was 68 degrees. I know it was over 80 when I finished. I didn't look at the temp when I started. AP: 8:13. 

Ran the local loop and extended it out a bit to get 8 miles. AP: 9:14

Local trail again. Only 4 miles this morning before work. Planning for a long run tomorrow. AP: 9:05

Wanted to do a 20 mile trail run today. Unfortunately life is never as planned and I had to last minute go to work today for a few hours. I still wanted to get a decent amount of miles in so i decided to go for 12 on the road instead. It felt good despite the lack of sleep last night. I did the same course as on Wednesday only went a little further. i felt a lot better than I did on Wednesday. AP: 8:06 time: 1:37:49.

It was so great to run this week with my family. It makes me want to move make by them. This morning we ran on the rim of the Grand Canyon beutiful scenery and great company.

Ran with two of my brothers this morning. we went out to Kaibab trailhead along the rim of the Grand Canyon. Another great morning for a run. It is so much cooler at the Grand Canyon. I am also surprised that the altitude didn't seem to affect me.

Went down Kaibab trail to Cedar point. It was only about 1.5 miles into the canyon but it was such a different perspective. I really want to do the r2r2r run now.

Took the rim trail all the way out to Hermit's rest. It was a great run. Ran with my 2 brothers and sister in law it was great to be there to support each other.

Short morning run along the rim. I had thought earlier in the week that the altitude wasn't bothering me at all. I have noticed that my times this week are over a minute/mile slower than my usual pace in Tucson. I guess that is something to keep in mind for the upcoming race.

I didn't get to run in the morning before leaving the Grand Canyon. I got my run in in the evening after putting the kids to bed. It was really hot especially when comparing it to my runs at the Grand Canyon earlier in the week. The lowest the temp got during the run was 95 and it was closer to 100 when I started. The run was on the trail by my house.

Ran on the Trail by my house. I tried to do some sprints to make this a fartlek run. I did about 8 30 second sprints. I didn't do the laps but I think the splits were about 8min/mile. It is harder to get good splits when you are trying not to trip on rocks in the trail.

Rn up to the saddle of sombrero peak and then went north to explore the trail a little bit. I took several different trails I haven't used before it was fun to see different areas in the NP. I did get a little bit lost getting back but not too bad.

Wade road run. I was kind of shooting for 8 min miles (about HMP) for most of it (tempo run) a couple of the uphill miles were a bit slower. AP: 8:03.

Ran the local trail.

Wanted to do 20+ miles today at Mount Wrightson. I was only able to do 14 miles because there was no water and I sprained/twisted my ankle at mile 12. I was able to continue to the car so hopefully I can continue running on it with support. I think I'm off of trails for a little while until it is better. Took me 3:18 AP 14:07. Vertical 5476 I was hoping the downhill would be faster but it was hard to go fast because of trees across the trail and a lot of overgrowth on the trail. Finally when the trail cleared up I Hurt my ankle and had to go slow.

Did 4 miles while at work overnight. I took it slow and steady because the ankle was hurting. The run went really pretty well. After call and sleeping a couple of hours I did another 4 miles. My ankle was a bit swollen after having been on it all day. I got a brace and the run was fine. I think I will continue running on flat surfaces for the rest of the week.

Did a fartlek run with the ankle only wrapped and it felt good. I was even able to go fast without any pain. I am very glad. I did 3 min 10k intervals intermixed with AR. the pace was between 7:30 and 7:52 with the last 2 being the slowest. I think I tired out. I was shooting for 7:30. AP 7:59

The ankle felt pretty good so I thought I would try a few miles on the trail. It went pretty well no pain I was pretty careful to not roll my ankle. AP: 8:36

Did 2 laps up beacon hill. Felt really good. AP: 10:32.

was only able to get a couple miles at work because had to make a pitstop shortly after starting. When I got home I did 4 more miles. AP: 7:50. a short section was on the trail. 

Only able to do 6 miles before work because wife had to go early to register kids for swim lessons. It was supposed to be slow miles I may have pushed it a bit AP: 8:10.

Finally was able to get 20 straight miles in. I did them on the road because I didn't have time to do trail miles before it gets too hot. I think I want to do a long trail run next week I will have to get up super early or maybe not go to sleep. I started this at 5 am temp was 79 finished at 8 am and the temp was 95. I felt pretty exhausted by the end of this. I hope I can survive the speedgoat in a month. The only thing that is encouraging is I was trying to push this pretty fast and I did 11 miles at about an 8/mile pace the other 3 in the middle were slower 2/2 hills. I think if I went slower I would be able to go farther. However the hills on speedgoat are going to make me really slow already. I guess we will see. AP 8:22.

I was on call overnight. Somehow I found the energy to do a ladder workout at work. I did 1, 2, 3, 2, 1, 2, 3, 2, 1 min sprints with active recoveries after each. I was shooting for 6:30, 7:00 and 7:30 splits on the 1, 2, 3 min sprints. I felt pretty good given I did the 20 miles on Saturday and was able to meet the splits for the most part. Maybe I need to start pushing my speed a little more. My paces were: 6:41, 6:59, 7:20, 7:11, 6:08, 7:17, 7:31, 6:48 and 6:11.

Local trail with a couple of laps up the hills. It is cooler but feels really muggy. Garmin said 66 degrees 73% humidity welcome to monsoon season. 

Ran the local trail for 10 miles this morning. Saw deer and a tortoise.

Ran while on call initially was going to do a progression run, but the new started hurting a little into the run and just finished 6 at an easy pace.

Slow run up wade road w/ a bit of exploring.

It has been ~6 weeks since I have ran this trail (last time I took a bad spill). I guess it is time to get back on the horse or mountain. I did a couple of laps up Wasson peak. The first lap I was able to run the whole way up that was encouraging. I got to the top the first time at about 6:30 AM (1:15 to go 5.6 miles and 2100 vertical feet) it was a pleasant temperature. The second trip up I took the more direct route without as much vertical (3.8 miles and 1650 vert)and it took 1:20 I had to walk a good portion. I was going to try a third time but it was 95 degrees and i had drank all 5 liters of water I brought so I went to a flat part of trail by my house after getting more water to finish out 22 miles

Ran up wade road. super hard to get out this morning. only got 4 hours of interrupted sleep last night. Flet better after I got out and started. I did the middle 4 miles at HMP (shooting for 8 min/mile) splits were: 8:15, 8:22, 7:29 and 7:44. The first 2 were uphill (100+ vert/mile) the second 2 were back downhill.

I was supposed to do a moderate pace run today. I am exhausted. The lack of sleep, heat and humidity is getting to me. I did 12.5 miles the first 5 on the trail by my house then continued on the road to get 12 miles. I was so tired and fatigued I couldn't get my pace faster than 8:30/mile. The garmin said it was 78% humidity this morning, so much for the dry heat, at least it was only in the 80's while I was running. I was pretty dead the rest of the day.

When I got home my son wanted to go run with me so I went on a short 0.5 mile jog with him that was fun glad he wants to try and run.

wanted to try running around this golf course it had some really great hills and a change of scenery. I got yelled at towards the end and told that I wasn't supposed to be running on the golf course.

Ran on the local trail. I saw a family of Javelinas. It is so humid here now. I think it is worse than the heat. 80 degrees and 70%. It is really slowing me down. AP: 9:31

A guy from church wanted to try out trail running so I found a nice trail to take him on. It was an easy run. I felt great no problems slow pace to stick with him. I could have done more but it was a beautiful morning and a nice run.

I did another run up Wasson peak today. I did 2 laps. Unfortunately I had to work last night until midnight and wasn't able to get out in the morning until 6:30 (85 degrees 60% humidity). The first trip to the top felt pretty good except I was attacked by a swarm of flying ants on the summit. I borke up the second trip to the top by only running about a mile back down then to the summit before returning to the trailhead and then running back up. The 2nd time up was a lot harder probably 2/2 the heat >90. Couldn't talk myself into doing any more. Hope that I am ready for Speedgoat because I am now officially tapering these next 2 weeks.

Ladder interval run. I did 1 min, 2 min, 3 min, 2 min, 1 min, 2 min, 3 min, 2 min, 1 min, 2 min and 3 min with active recovery between. Target paces were: 6:30, 7:00 and 7:30 for the 1 min, 2 min and 3 min sprints. my splits ended up being: 6:48, 6:59, 7:29, 7:02, 6:04, 7:01, 7:10, 7:15, 6:22, 7:18 and 7:33

Here is the comparison with the prior ladders I did:

7/15 Ladder 7/1 Ladder 5/16 Ladder

Time Distance Pace Time Distance Pace Time Distance Pace

 1:10 0.17 6:48 1:25 0.21 6:41 1:12 0.18 6:44

 2:02 0.29 6:59 2:01 0.29 6:59 2:17 0.33 6:58

 3:14 0.43 7:29 3:06 0.42 7:20 3:01 0.41 7:25

 2:00 0.28 7:02 2:02 0.28 7:11 2:11 0.32 6:52

 1:04 0.17 6:04 1:02 0.17 6:08 1:01 0.15 6:43

 1:47 0.26 7:01 2:31 0.35 7:17 2:02 0.29 7:00

 3:06 0.43 7:10 3:06 0.41 7:31 2:55 0.4 7:18

 2:13 0.31 7:15 1:59 0.29 6:48 1:13 0.17 6:56

0:50 0.13 6:22 1:01 0.16 6:11 1:54 0.28 6:45

 2:04 0.28 7:18 3:13 0.43 7:28

 3:15 0.43 7:33

Ran up wade road. AP: 8:10

2 Laps up Beacon hill. felt really good. Except for the heat.

Ran up wade road with a little section on the trail. AP: 8:20.

wade road run with a couple miles on the trai.

did 4 miles on the treadmill because of the traveling this weekend. i also did 2 laps up the stairs at the hotel (11 flights).

Did 7 miles up at snowbird. I tried to follow the speedgoat route. I missed the first turn down towards the snowbird center because I felt tired and didn't want to have to climb back up. I then got lost up at mile 6 and ended up having to track back across a boulder field. The route was pretty hard, but I remember not feeling too tired when I got up to the top. My time was 2:15. If I can do that anywhere close to that time in the race I figured I would be fine.

Went running with my brother. Did the last mile of the Speedgoat course and then did the first 2 miles of the course then went around back to the hotel. I felt pretty good after.

Did the first 4 miles of the speedgoat route with my brother. This helped me realize how hard the race would be. Still felt ok at the end, which was good for keeping my spirits up.

Did the minimum today, so as not to stress myself too much before the race. Just went up the mountain at snowbird for a mile and then back to the hotel.

Did a hike with the family to cecret lake and then ran up to the saddle between baldy and sugarloaf to look at another part of the course. At the time I was encouraged that we didn't go up the trail to baldy. I ought they had taken baldy out of the race which would have taken away a seriously difficult section. On Saturday I found out that wasn't true they didn't take baldy out they sent us right up the face of the mountain. Anyway this run felt good. I was even able to get 8:18 on one of the downhill miles.