running for my mind

20.15 - Happy New Year everyone!

More of a description later

No sleep, or very little. Rest day. 

ran the "5 Fingers of Sugar House" with Brayden and several Liberty loops. 

the 5 fingers consist of zigzagging south from 13th south to 17th south in between 11th east and 13th east. elevation profile here. was not as bad as originally anticipated.

45 min on spin bike. I have some thoughts about it. I will share them tomorrow. 

8 

I have never really cared for New Year's resolutions. I have always been the "if you want to set a goal or make a change just do it now and don't wait until the new year" kind of guy. However, I often find myself lost in contemplation. The beginning of a new year is as good a time as any to take a look back. I am constantly evaluating where I stand in regards to running. The following is where I stand today.

Three years ago I decided to buy my first pair of running shoes. Running changed my life. I can say that on here, this blog, because you fellow runners will understand, certainly more than others, what that means. If you need more of an explanation, join me for a long run and I would be happy to explain. 

I have made some significant improvements and have achieved things I never thought I would in those three years. Yet, I feel like I am just being introduced to this mammoth beast known as running. I am a rookie with high hopes for the future. I finished 2014 off strong with just shy of 2500 miles and a solid base to roll into the new year. I have a goal to run my fastest marathon to date at Ogden in May. It is going to take a lot of work, but I feel like I have the necessary tools to do the work. 

I am trying to see where I can work a little harder and tweak my training here and there. Typically, I run 6 days a week. 99.9% of the time I only run once a day. 6 days a week without any doubles (and a full-time job and family) naturally caps the number of miles I can log. So, I am trying to see where I can make adjustments to take the next step up.

I have never "cross-trained." It  is not that I don't think I could benefit from it. I am sure I would. It is just that the time I have carved out for running, I dedicate to running. I enjoy one day off a week. I feel like it helps me mentally. I am starting to wonder if I really need it though. Occasionally I log some easy miles on Sunday to loosen up from a strenuous long Saturday run or workout. I have found that I still get my mental break, but also start the week off with 4-5 miles. Yesterday, I hopped on the spin bike for 45 minutes. Again, there was no mental strain in deciding to hop on or not. It was quite refreshing to do something physical other than running. And, it didn't cut into my running time.

Perhaps, I am simply writing this to digest it all for myself. Here seemed like a good place to do so. So, now I look forward. Here's to another year.

10 - 7:08

Met Fritz, JP, and Dan at HHS and ran the park loop south loop. Was a nice clear temperate morning.

Met Fritz and JP at HHS and warmed up over to Liberty for a workout of 4 x (4min on 2min off).

I wanted to start at about a 5:55 pace and maybe work down a little each repeat if I felt alright. We all stuck pretty close together on the first loop and then JP and Fritz dropped their pace. I started feeling it on the second repeat and had to give myself a little pep talk. I knew it was a little too fast as well. I backed off on the third a little and then slowed even more on the last one. I wanted to see how the last one would feel right at about 6:05 to see if I could feel relatively comfortable at that pace. All in all, it was a good workout though I would have liked to have felt better at the end.

The average paces for the 4 repeats were 5:52, 5:43, 5:51, 6:06.

10 - 7:16

Easier run with Fritz and JP south from HHS with a loop around Sugar House to finish it off. 

6 in the fog. visibility was only about 20-30 yards. it made for a fun run and it felt nice to have a little easier day. took a solid 3 miles before i felt like i was loosened up. i think i need to schedule some time with the foam roller.

16 - 7:11 - 739ft

Downtown and Avenues loop from Liberty with Daniel.

5 on the elliptical to warm up and loosen up. Stretching. Am I allowed to count those as "running" miles?

Easy 7. 

0

Ran over to Liberty from HHS with Fritz and JP for a workout of 6 x straightaways (~.4) with resting on the bends. I wanted to start at a 5:30 pace and hopefully drop the last 2 a little. 5:30, 5:30, 5:25, 5:30, 5:41, 5:25. On the fifth one, my left leg started feeling weak like it wasn't firing correctly. It almost felt like I was dragging it along. I contemplated bailing on the last one, but gave it what I had and the leg felt ok. I obviously have some imbalance issue there, or something, I need to work out. Felt good to finish strong though and overcome the desire to quit early.

PM - 25 min on spin bike. Stretching. Foam Roller.

Easy watchless 8 along the parkway.

Felt good to run easy and get the hips etc warm. I have a 7 hour continuing education course today. It should be riveting. I get to cap that off with going to trial this afternoon. I am going to sleep well tonight...hopefully.

10.4 - 7:06 - 500ft

Met Fritz, JP, and Dan at HHS and ran East and South to Skyline and back. Fun hilly route.

18 - 6:57 - 625ft

Met Daniel at 7:30 and we ran just over 7 miles before meeting the big group at 8:30. We joined Fritz, JP, Josh, Dan, Anthony, and John and went roughly 11 more to finish it up at 18. It was a fast fun group. I went through a lull at about 16-17. I wasn't feeling great and was ready to be done. 18 without any food or water might be close to my limit. 

Took the day off. Spent about 45 minutes in the hot tub and really focused on my hips, left in particular. I was surprised that I felt better today than expected. I think the speedwork might have been a little too fast for my hip this week, but now it is feeling a lot better. I might take it easy this coming week depending on how it feels. 

8 easy. 

Hips and legs felt good. Hips were a little tight and ached a little near the end. Going to continue to focus on them this week. Going to take it day-by-day, but might hold off on speed work this week. 

10 - 7:11

4ish out and back on the parkways with a foxy loop to finish it off. 

Just ran and didn't bother looking at my watch. I am pleased how easy it felt and my hips didn't seem to tighten up so much. Just need to continue to maintain them. 

another easy 8 before another long day ahead including 2 depositions.

did anyone else see that a WSU student qualified for the olympic trials on sunday in houston? with a great time too! link here

Casual run through Holladay past Hille's house and about with Fritz and Evan. 

I am feeling good. I think it was smart to not do a workout yesterday and give myself a week off from speed. Next week marks 16 weeks until Ogden so I guess I better start to lay out a plan. 

Excel, here I come.

PM - PT and stretching session while watching a movie. 

Met Fritz and Dan at HHS and ran up through research park and back through the U. Decent amount of climbing with a little bit of icy trail that got the best of Dan's hand unfortunately. 

I think last night's PT and stretching was a good idea and I am going to try and toss that in a couple nights a week to loosen up and strengthen some areas.

17.5 - 7:23 - 701ft

Solid group for 5:30am. Met Daniel, Scott, and Evan at HHS and ran a 9 mile loop north into Millcreek. Picked up Brayden and ran an 8.5 mile loop down to Liberty and back. Kept it nice and easy and it felt good. 

30 min on the spin bike and then some foam roller action.

9 easy on the parkway. 

Planning on the Winter Series 5k this Saturday. Have no idea what pace to try and run it at. Should be fun though to get out there.

PM - 30 minutes on the spin bike, stretching, and foam rollin' 

Finished the night playing at the pool and soaking in the hot tub.

Met Fritz, Dan, JP, and Nate and ran through Millcreek. Didn't have a watch, but it felt fast. Part of me was wanting / trying to take it easy so I have a good workout tomorrow. 

Met Fritz, JP, and Dan at HHS and ran over to Liberty for 3x1 mile repeats. Had a goal of 5:55 for the first 2 and then picking up slightly on the last and giving a good push the last .25. 

5:53, 5:52, 5:44

5 super easy. Was tired this morning so I opted for a little more sleep and a little shorter run. I also want to rest up the legs for a good race on Saturday.

6 easy on the parkway.

Don't Do Drugs!

Slower than I had hoped but feel good about the effort. The wind was strong on the way back. I felt really good until about a mile left, typical for the 5k for me. I didn't know, but Rob was right behind me until about a mile to go when he came next to me. I was happy to see him and he helped pull me to the finish. Kicked hard at the end and was happy to finish right in front, though Rob had the faster time. So, big thanks to Rob! 

5:46, 5:51, 6:14, :41 - 18:33 - 3.12 - 5:55avg (all from watch) - Official results are in now and it was an 18:35

hard to say if this was a PR or not. i ran a 17:59 at murray last year, but the course was short. i may have run faster that day, but who knows. so, i will consider the 18:35 my PR for now. nothing fancy, but i am happy having only run 5 5ks.