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Liberty loops with Nate, Fritz and Cameron.  I was thinking of doing 5 at mp but stayed with Cameron. So 5:56, 6:07, 6:30, 6:34, and 5:40 pace for .9 before bumping into Nate. (5:54 for the mile after slowing). I felt strong at the 5:40 pace in mile 10. Just over 1:40 for the run. Great morning. Best of luck to Fritz, Nate and Jake. May they taper wisely and race strong! PRs and sub 2:20s all around!

Easy from home to the JRP south. Wind from the south. 1:16:25 total. Nice run.

Treadmill run at the end of the day. Mile 1 was 6:18 for .5 then 6:00. Miles 2-3 at 5:49 and mile 4 at 5:42. Mile 5 at 5:39 for .5, 5:27 for .25 and 5:00 for .25. Total of 28:55 at a 1.5 incline. Felt strong though hurried.

Got a good sports massage thereafter. He said that I have the tightest piriformis muscles he has worked on in a long time. He thinks the tighness in the right side is causing overcompensating injuries on the left side. Though he intended to work the lower back and hamstring as well, he kept going back to the glute. The hamstring is a bit tight but not overly so and my range of motion on both sides was good. I broke out in a cold sweat a few times with the immense pain and afterward my rear felt like jelly. Caused me to laugh out loud because of the stark contrast.

Thanks to Andrea for the referral. Of course, stretching, ice baths and lots of water recommended. I am bad at all of these.

Easy with Adam up wasatch. The weather was not bad though it was not quite 20 degrees. I thought we were plodding along pretty slowly so I was surprised to see a 7:30 average when we usually go 7:45 or slower.

Boring treadmill miles. I swear it was work related and not the weather. 48 total from 9-10.3mph.

Easy up wasatch at lunch. Very cold but luckily not very icy. There were plenty of snowy patches and places to slip but I felt pretty good when I could run on the road. 61:12 total.

I took three days off because I think I needed it. December just feels like take it easy month. I am also nursing some nagging stuff in my left glute but that felt no different on today's run. I also get a "balky" knee this time of year, I think from the cold. It's just a little sore and tight but not a big issue I don't think. So frustrated with those pains and wishing they would go away.

I saw Mike Nelson's treadmill run last week and I'd seen Scott and Justin do it. I wanted some speed so I decided to give it a go on my work treadmill. My office has a pretty good Precor treadmill but I've always wondered if it is a tad easy for the stated pace. My only comparison is hotel treadmills in Houston and those seem somewhat harder, though it is always more humid there.

15 minute warm up (2.25 miles) then a ladder with 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 4, 3, 2, 1 minutes at 12 mph with 10 mph equal minutes rest. 5 at 5:00 pace; 4.25 at 6ish pace (went to from 12 mph during the rest so faster than 10mph avg). I did it all at a 1 incline. 5 minute cool (.65 miles). 70 minutes total. It was tough but I felt pretty strong. This causes me some doubt as to the accuracy given that superior runners have been challenged by it. Heart rate checks in the high 170s which I believe corresponds to 15k race pace for me.

Glad the treadmill didn't fail on me. Intervals are clearly superior to tempos if I want to get in a good workout since it generally fails on me when going sub 5:40 during my usual progressions.

Glute felt as good as it has lately. I think I need to make sure it is warm if I want to run fast.

Less than 100 miles to go for 3000 in 2013!

No run today. I wanted to run, but I am not willing to get up early and I had a business lunch. Thought about a quick 30 minutes in the evening but that didn't happen. My legs were sore from Tuesday's treadmill intervals which is unusual.

With the awful air, I went up dangerous emigration canyon. The air wasn't much better there. I did a small tempo down the canyon averaging 5:38 for 3 miles. A bit of a headwind going down the canyon. 6:47 avg for the run.

Another emigration out and back. I winded through research park rather than the snow in matheson state park. Much colder than yesterday without the sun and the headwind going down the canyon was freezing. I also dressed less warmly today so I was too warm yesteday and way too cold today. I am a champ. 6:56 average. Smog smog go away.

Met Jake, Andrea, Allie, James and Fritz at Liberty Park for a nice smog run. We explored the new path running along the S line streetcar. No one would join me for a frogger edition of crossing 7th east. If I had run .15 more, I would have hit 50 for the week and that would have been more meaningful. Oh well. 1:18 and change for me.

Did I mention I met the guy that authored the Mo-Mo-Mormon Rap at the Huntsman Christmas party? A hoot.

Steady run. The air looks a bit clearer today but I think that's just the sun. It still tastes awful. So another canyon run up city creek. Went 6.4 miles from my house to the water station where the road was no longer plowed. Then turned and went up to 11th and I street. Then returned home. When I came out of memory grove, I could immediatley feel the exhaust I was breathing and it is sickening.

This was a pretty strong effort with heart rate checks in the 150s so probably 5-10% off marathon pace effort. The uphills were just over 7 average and the downhills were around 6. 1:38:45 (6:35) with probably about 1400 ft up total.

The Kinvara 5s are a bit tight on the pinky toes but didn't crash into the front on the downhills so I think they are usable. 

Easy - met Adam at the JCC and went to 11th and B. 65:18 total. Nicer day.

Did the same treadmill run as last week but at a 1.5 incline. It was harder but still possible. 1,2,3,4,5,4,3,2,1 minutes at 5:00 pace with equal mts "rest" at 6:00 pace. 2 up, .25 down (less time). This was certainly harder than last week and I thought about quitting sooner, but still didn't feel like I was maxing out.

Excited to go to 24 hour fitness next week and do the same workout there to compare.

Easy with Adam over to wasatch 7:36 a mile. Excited for the snowstorm!

Legs feel better today than they did after my treadmill session last Tuesday.

Unscheduled day off. I think it's a good policy to have at least one day a week off this month. And wouldn't today be the day?

Easy miles with Adam down into Sugarhouse and back. Slow, wet and slushy. 52:36.

Can't get Christmas Shoes out of my head. By far the best Christmas song of all time.

Easy with Fritz from memory grove up to the U into harvard/yale and down through the U/aves. Snowy and slushy so while warmish, wet cold feet. I slipped a bit on a turn in fed heights and went stumbling across the road - thank goodness no cars. We both ended at exactly 12.67 so why not. 7:30 avg

Tomorrow's run will put me over 3000 running miles for the year!

Easy with Fritz and Adam from Highland up millcreek. Nice drifty snow the entire time that didn't accumulate. The Kinvaras were a beast in the snow with the extra rubber in key spots.

That's 3,000 running miles for the year!

With Fritz for an 18 mile loop that became 20. Nice temperature and visibility but slick roads. 6:45 avg with 700 ft up. Kinvaras made it through a long run and my feet felt great.

Treadmill tempo at the gym at city creek. Doing a 3 day $30 pass. I need to take note of the type of treadmill but they are very nice and quiet and they have an iFit app that allowed me to have my workout emailed to me.

Started out with the warmup and I could tell the pace was harder than my work treadmill. Went from 8.5 mph for 1/2 mile, 9 for 1 mile, 9.5 for 1 mile, 10 for 1/2 mile. Then 1 minute at 5:00 pace (ack), 1 minute at 6:00 pace (not recovering much), 2 minutes at 5:00 pace (make it stop), 2 minutes at 6:00 pace (I can't do that again), 3 minutes at 11 mph, 3 minutes at 10 mph, then STOP. 12 minute workout and then I got off and got a drink.

Then I did marathon pace 10.1-10.5 miles per hour for 36 minutes then 2x30 seconds at 5:00 pace. Then cooled down to 15 miles total.

In total, 15 miles in 1:31:50 at 1 and .5 incline (for latter half). Much harder than work treadmill which is a helpful reailty check. Still a good workout and a nice way to spend a day off.

I have done about 330 miles on that work treadmill this year so that really should count as a fraction of 330, but not sure what that fraction would be. Oh well.

Easy up emigration and back. Nicer air up there yet again. Nice quiet day and the weather was cool but sunny. 1:34:30 total. That's 60 miles in 4 runs this week with two days off.

Easy from home around memory grove and to 11th ave and Virginia. Turned around at 5.3 and then did .7 up city creek to make it 6 each way. Beginning at the gate at city creek, I did a fast finish with miles of 5:36, 5:36 (each down) and 5:54 flat. 

This was a controlled marathon pace and I tried to keep the effort even. Felt strong. I will be getting very used to 5:55 flat pace over the next several weeks. 1:20:18 total or 6:41 avg.

Finished the week with 72 miles (most in two months) in 5 runs or an average of 14.4 per run. I felt strong in all the runs.

Easy with Jake, Rob and Nate. They were nice enough to come out at 7:30 and it was pretty cold the entire run. Similar to my run with Fritz the other day up Murray Holladay and back on Wasatch but not all the way up the old mill road. 1:44:53.

Feeling really good lately.

Beginning of Boston Marathon training today. Workout was 12x400@5k pace with 1:00 recoveries. Again at the Gym at City Creek. They are freemotion treadmills and there are two kinds. One with "arm rests" and one without. Those with the arm rests are much more stable as I learned on this run and they also have the ability to go "downhill" up to 3% grade.

On the treadmill, I modified this to do even .25 intervals with .12 rest and .1 speed up. Warmed up 3 and cooled 2.2.

I did 3 at 11.3 (5:19), 3 at 11.4 (5:16), 3 at 11.5 (5:13) and then 11.6 (5:10) 11.7 (5:08) and then the treadmill stopped! I jumped off and went to a bouncy treadmill and did .25 at 5:00 pace. It felt pretty hard. Then I wiped down the two machines and went on another for the cooldown. I decided to do one more at 5:00 pace before cooling for 13x.25@5:19-5:00 all at a 1 incline.

The rests were generally less than a minute due to slowing to 7.5 mph. These intervals were hard but never felt impossible and I felt like I could keep going if needed. I am guessing they would have been harder outside but I do think these treadmills are more honest so it's more just the mental effort to stay on pace at such high speeds that I think is more difficult outside.

Treadmill run at a moderate pace. Felt good. That makes a nice even number for the year. about 52 minutes total at a 1 incline. The work treadmil is struggling and it quit on me twice. I had to do 1.6 on old rickety while it cooled off for a bit. My left foot toes are a bit mangled these days.

HAPPY NEW YEAR!!