Welcome

AM

6.5 on the parkway with James. I think there is a beast of the river. Bigger than a beaver and menacing.

Informative Onion article on runninng. "The study further noted that individuals who engage in strenuous runs of five miles or more every day of the week, regardless of temperature and weather conditions, were able to add, on average, an additional decade of being actively despised by acquaintances, coworkers, and casual onlookers to their lives."

Lunch

7.7 with Nate on my third wasatch out and back of the week. Warm. 7:50 pace

Long run with Kotter and his roomy Jacob. From HHS at 7am up to Wasatch south to 7-11 down to murray holladay blvd and back so more than 800 ft of hills and temperatures in the mid 70s. Jacob is a 3:43 1500 guy who is training for his first marathon as an adult (I think he ran one in his teens). At 17, they threw down two in the 5:35 range and I let them go. I think Jacob will do ok at St George. 

I averaged 6:36 for the run.

Mueller Park with Adam and Fritz. Lovely run but I wasn't feeling awesome. Somehow Fritz had about .2 more than me. He is certain his was right so it's 13.

Lunch

Dry creek with Adam. Warm and muggy and I felt quite lethargic. Just beat the 9 minute guy.

I have been considering reevaluating everything for a month now and keep puting it off hoping my attitude would change. I don't think it's an attitude thing anymore. Less mileage and less running stress are the self-imposed orders.

8 with James on the usual avenues loop in the AM.

On my way to work, I saw guy jogging sunnyside up. He was simultaneously bouncing a racquetball from hand to hand. Is there a sane explanation?

AM

Met up with Fritz, Adam and a guy named JP at the East High track and did 2x400, 800, 1600, 800, 400 with rests of 400 after all but the 400 (200 rest). I had no desire to do this workout and considered not going and not continuing after the first 400 but I stuck it out.

Splits were 73, 77, 2:39, 2:38, 5:30, 5:34, 2:41, 2:39, 76, 72.

Felt pretty good by the end though not overly speedy. Plenty left in the tank though.

Lunch

Warm and cool on the stationary bike and a PT/core/stretch routine.

Lunch run with Adam up emigration and back. 7:52 pace.

Snyderville Basin Loop with Fritz and Jake. Very nice loop with a lot of dirt. I slowed down a bit over the last 3-4 and wasn't feeling awesome. 6:55 average for the whole thing.

AM

8 with James on the avenues loop.

Lunch

10 minute stairmaster warm and cool followed by an extensive PT strengthening routine.

I have not had a good long run in over two months and I believe there is a physicial limitation holding me back. My only guess is a chronic hip/glute strength imbalance causing undue wear and tear and stress. Plan for now is to run entirely by feel until I am feeling good again while taking PT seriously and perhaps getting some further advice.

Bear lake along the garden city pathway. Felt pretty good. 7:06 average

AM

8 on the parkway with James at a 7:32 pace. His watch was all like buggin.

I feel good right now. Ready to get in a nice comeback week. I may even attempt a workout and see where my fitness is.

Lunch

Felt like doing another run. Turned out to be 5 miles of emigration out and back in trail shoes. 6:53 average. More of a moderate pace run with temperatures in the high 80s but it was short.

Two runs today after two in the last eight days. I guess running by feel meant no running for a bit longer (I am not running if I don't want to).

Met Fritz at HHS for a track workout. 6x800 with 400 jogs in between in anticipation of the TOU half on Saturday. This workout shows where I am right now. Splits were 2:31, 2:39, 2:41, 2:45, 2:47, 2:55. Perfect regression to marathon pace (which is really old marathon pace). Still happy to get a workout in.  6:37 pace for the run (slower accounting for the track adjustment).

When I first tried a marathon pace tempo for the marathon build up back on July 10, I really struggled to get under 6 and I wasn't able to go long at that pace. I was surprised at the loss of fitness since Boston and since then I've pretty much been afraid of long tempos. Today, Strava says I ran 3-5 in 5:47, 5:59, 5:48 (with the typical track qualifier that it measures pace too fast). I definitely have no mental edge where I want to push my body to the limit and I kind of just slow down. I'm just not going to worry about it much. 

This is the best time of year to train and I don't want to miss out on it. After the fall racing season ending with the other half in October, I am going to reevaluate everything. Fritz had some helpful input this morning. My personality is all or nothing so it's hard to find balance with running but that is the ultimate hope.

Lunch

No AM run so I did the aves loop at lunch from work. I did one quick mile to feel out 5:30 pace going from 11th to the mouth of memory grove. About 95 ft down I think with a small hill near the end. Felt ok. 7:22 average for the run. It was cooler in the low 70s with storms lately. It has been a reasonably cool summer.

Lunch

8 easy with Nate. Nice to catch up with him a bit. Wasatch out and back in 7:58 avg.

AM

6 with James on the parkway. Mid 60s and humidish which felt great. I am now in my late 30s. I don't think the math works any other way.

Started out working too hard for the desired splits and quikly had trouble staying under 6. I felt like my left leg wasn't firing and it generally felt weak and tight. With a trip to Logan and perfect weather, I was pretty frustrated to have the day wasted on injury.

This has been coming since the May 2013 injury at Ogden. I always said if I can still race I will keep going. Today I couldn't race. This will be a retraining of the hips and glutes and I think it will take some time.