running for my mind

5 easy on the parkway with a couple of short pickups.

Ribs / Chest Update - Feeling pretty good. Was slightly sore on the run but not bad. Was the best I have felt since the fall on the ski. St. George is going down under 2:50!

98% or 2% excited or scared...that's what makes it so intense!

1.5 shake out before tomorrow's race. 

The goal from the beginning of this cycle has always been sub-2:50. It has been a very consistent and strong cycle for me, aside from the last two weeks dealing with my ribs. I am not letting that shake me though. I am the fastest I have ever been and I have trained hard to be here. I am excited to race!

Wise words from Josh - The race is the reward for everything done up to that moment. When you are prepared, racing is a celebration of life, fitness and the determination it takes to get to that point. Enjoy it! It will be great!

Good luck to all those racing.

2:54.14 - not exactly what I had hoped for but happy with, and I need to celebrate, my almost 5 minute PR. 

Ribs did not bother me at all. Fought some cramping early in my calves that slowed me up. No excuse, I simply didn't run fast enough. I need to figure out my calf issues and then evaluate what to do next. 

[update] cramping and calf issues largely due to the rib injury and overcompensating because of it.

More later

As most have noted, the race started over 15 minutes late. John and I ran from the start side by side. There was a nice little tailwind, but it seemed a tad warmer than I would have liked. I had my splits on my wristband and it seemed like John was mostly letting me control the pace. I didn't see him look at his watch too often.

Miles 1-7 - This first section seemed easy, like it should. We just clipped along according to plan. We were within a few seconds of every one of our planned splits and the effort seemed good. By mile 3 I was starting to have some sweat on my brow. I started to think of Boston and knew that I needed to be good about getting water in, and on, me at each station. (6:40, 6:38, 6:22, 6:15, 6:21, 6:11, 6:09)

Miles 8-13 - Before I knew it, we were about to start climbing Veyo. We had planned to take this pretty easy to conserve as much energy as possible. I took my first gel at the mile 7 aid station. We just trudged along uphill and I didn't feel like we were exerting much effort. That mile came in at 7:11. The next several miles felt similar, we were close to our splits we wanted and the effort seemed about right. This is an interesting stretch of the race that a lot of people talked bad about beforehand. It was not horrible. We just maintained effort and I was still feeling good. My legs were tiring a little from the uphill and I was looking forward to some down. 9-13 were 7:01, 6:54, 7:04, 6:45, and 6:30.

Miles 14-20 - Mile 14 was mentally tough for me. I thought we would have been going more downhill by now. I guess I had not done enough of my own studing up because I was under the belief that the course turned downhill right at mile 13. That was not the case and it shook me a little. I was happy to finally turn down the canyon. The legs welcomed the change and John and I quickly dropped the pace again. 6:22, 6:14, 6:10, 6:14, 6:22. In the middle of mile 16, something odd happened. My left calf spasmed and I almost went down into the shoulder. John looked over at me and slightly joking said, "Are you alright man?" For the next several miles each of  my calves seemed a little odd, but nothing serious like that one spasm during 16. I started to not feel that great during mile 18. I mentioned it to John and he encouraged me to stick with him. I snapped out of it pretty quickly and we were clipping along. Mile 19 had what I considered the final climb. We slowed up and that came in at 6:47. We ran through 20 and John said, "Only a 10k left." 6:33.

Miles 21-26.2 - I was hurting at this point and my calves were firing at odd times. I kicked my legs up behind me here and there to try and loosen the quads as the elevation would change. When I did that, my calves would spasm. So, I just tried to stay calm and stick to the plan. After running a mile 21 at 6:12, things really went south for a minute and John pulled away. There was a little rise in 22 and I thought I was going to have to stop or my legs were going to cramp up bad. I committed to walking for 10 seconds to see if I could calm down. I counted to 5 twice and then started running again. 7:04. That seemed to help, but it was not enough. I could not get all the way back on track. Mile 23 was encouraging at 6:44, but it was still slower than I wanted. Then, it started to slip and I finished out at 6:55, 7:30, 7:28, 1:39 (7:25). 

I have had some time now to think about the race. My first thought is that St. George is not as much of a downhill course as people say it is. It is a rolling course with some great downhill sections. The course was not my downfall though. I need to figure out why my calves seem to be a weak link. I had an awesome training cycle and I made some great improvements. The last 2 weeks were rough with my rib injury and that likely shook my confidence a bit, even if it was subconsiously. I am not complaining about the almost 5 minute PR. It is an accomplishment, yet short of expectations. Perhaps, there were sections we ran too fast? I don't really think so though. I will take this and build on it.

Big props to John, Brayden, and Scott for running great races and PRing. Thanks to them for training with me through the cycle. We all helped push one another. I owe Josh a lot. He pushed me early in May to commit to being faster and ran many miles with me a lot slower than he likely wanted. I look forward to one day hanging at his pace. Thanks to Jake and Fritz as well for letting me always pick their brains. We have a great community of runners here in Utah and I consider it a privilege to be a part of.

One solid week off. It is the most time I have taken completely off in a couple years I think. And, I needed it. St. George did quite the number on my legs. I had an almost 2 hour massage on Saturday from a super knowledgeable thereapist from whom I think I will get some regular maintenance as part of my winter plan. 

Plan right now is to enjoy the fall weather. I love running this time of year. I will spend the next little while recovering completely. It has been 3 weeks since the rib injury and they are still bothering me a little. Likely will be another 3 weeks before they are healed. My calves will take time as well. I did more than just wear them out, they need to heal.

I don't want to make any excuse for slowing down at St. George, but I am willing and want to name a cause even if it is only part of it. So, here is the latest theory after a week of pondering and chatting with a couple docs and sports massage therapists.

The ribs did not really hurt while racing, but they are likely the cause, or at least a contributing factor, of the cramping in my calves and the overall discomfort earlier than expected. I ran for 2 weeks with my ribs hurting every step during the taper. During those two weeks, I greatly favored my left side. I flexed muscles on the left to try and damper the impact and lessen the overall bounce of everything on my left side ranging from my arm and shoulder, through my pectoral muscle, which is right above where the injury was. The easy runs during those 2 weeks left me feeling off. My calves seemed to be tighter than normal, but I figured it would go away by raceday, which it did. Then, I likely repeated the "favoring" during the race. Even if it was subconsciously, because I was wanting to avoid any pain from the ribs. This was enough to cause an imbalance and a change in my stride. This would account for my left calf spasm during mile 16. Once that side started to go, the force moved to the right and caused the damage to my right calf.

Anyone want to concur with that analysis?

Either way, happy fall y'all.

5 - 8:03 avg - 157 HR avg

5 easy on the parkway. Didn't look at my watch at all. That is the plan for a while during this "off" time. I actually wore my HR monitor, which I have not done in a long time. I think I am going to wear it on these easy runs just for fun. I don't know if it is overly helpful though. I tend to always be in the high 150's when running. That is where it was today. When I wore it for my repeats at the track, I would get up into the 170s and quickly drop back down into the 140s. Could be interesting to monitor for a month and see the trends.

Left calf had zero pain. I am pleased with that. Right calf was still sore and tight.

PM - hot tub - stretching/PT 

5 - 8:09 - 154

Robin - "Holy wynd, Batman!"
Batman - "Yes, it was wIndy. Why do you insist on using a 'y?' It is childish"
Robyn - "It is unique. That is why I changed my name to 'Robyn.'"
Batman - "You are an 'almost superhero,' isn't that unique enough?"
Robyn - "Don't patronize me."

to be continued...

Sleep!?! Where are you?

If it was my birthday soon, I would ask for one night of uninterrupted sleep. Well...if it is only hypothetical, I would probably ask for two nights.

4 - 7ish avg - 161
4 - 8sih avg - 154

Ran 2 sets of 4 miles this morning. During the first set, I ran 2 at marathon pace in the middle. I had not planned on it, just got out there and wanted a couple faster miles for fun. They were hard. 6:36 and 6:17 (I think. I didn't upload my splits yet and I am at work). Calves got tight, as expected. Just wanted to feel a little wind for a bit. 

The second set of 4 was with a couple of guys in the neighborhood. There is a decent group that runs a few times a week. They average right around 8:00, so I might tag along here and there for some company this winter. 

12 - 7:32 - 161

12 solo on the parkway. 

4.5 - 8:13 - 149

I finally uploaded my data from Saturday and was interested to see the splits. I averaged a 7:32 and I had wondered if I ran pretty even or what I had done because I did not look at my watch at all. I felt like my effort was pretty consistent for the full 12 miles. I figured I started pretty slow, like usual, but was happy to see the gradual progression without trying to do so. - 8:29, 7:59, 7:37, 7:30, 7:31, 7:24, 7:23, 7:23, 7:21, 7:22, 7:09, 7:12

Just wanted to get that down to look back on later. 

5 - 7:09 - 162

Warm on the parkway with a great lightning show to the north this morning.

6 - 7:55 - 152

Perhaps, egg nog was not the best post-run beverage.

5 - 7:06 - 164

I am enjoying these shorter easy runs where I just fall into a faster pace and go with it. I don't look at my watch during the run, but still wear it so I have the data.

Fall weather has been exceptional!

PM - 4 - 8:30 - 147

Easy on the treadmill watching a show. Stretching after.

4 - 7:45 - 156
1 - 7:45 - 147

Ran 4 easy on the parkway chatting the entire time. Then, hopped on the treadmill to run one more and see what the heartrate did. Interesting to see the data between the two. Obviously there are lots of variables to account for; ie. wind, road vs. treadmill, accuracy of treadmill, etc. I always think my treadmill is a little fast and my turnover sure thinks so. My average cadence on the road was 173 (fewer than usual) and on the treadmill was 179.

There were several minutes between the two runs and my heartrate had dipped way down before I hopped on the treadmill. Comparing the first mile of the 4 to the mile on the treadmill, I think the heartrate average for that one mile is very similar. Also, who knows how accurate the heartrate strap is. I know they have become better over the years, but I am sure they are not 100%.

Just a little geeking out on data.

14 - 7:31 - 161

Out and back on the parkway. Blustery and warm morning. I saw 5 llamas.

We went to a party last night that was catered by hot dog on a stick. I may have found my new fuel for my next race!

5.1 - 7:57 - 144

The cold pocket on the parkway almost had me desiring gloves.

[update] I sneezed today and didn't feel any rib pain. 5 weeks and 2 days since the rib injury.

6.5 - 7:11 - 164

First day with the temperature below my shorts threshold.

6 - 7:55 - 147

Shorts or tights? That is starting to be the question under our current weather conditions at 6am.

12 - 7:29 - 159 - 590ft

Met JP and Jason at Highland and did a loop up through the U and back with a touch into the avenues. Was fun to meet them and log some miles. Was also nice to have a little more elevation change than the 7 feet on the parkway.

6.75 - 7:54 - 147

Happy Halloween